Things Do Not Change We change
by K9 ML7
Summary: Hiccup flies away, Merida runs, Jack is Jack, Rapunzel is still locked up by Mother Gothel, the guardians are full of awesomeness, Pitch does some evil, so does Gothel, and Flynn? He's still your everyday thief. Somehow all of their stories crash together- uh, literally- in this tale! Hm, with just a pinch of romance, this just might be your story! R & R please! :D
1. The Beginnings

**A/N**: yes, you read the title correctly, and saw the photo shopped picture right- pretty good huh? I tried to get the characters to a similar size. Anyways- It IS a Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons fic! I haven't really read any of the other's before, namely because I haven't seen Rise of the Guardians until recently. So until I saw it, I didn't know what Jack was like and I didn't want to spoil the movie. But, I have now, and might I say- it was another awesomely made Dreamworks movie! Wait a go Dreamworks! :) Too bad you've said you'll never do a cross over with Disney. All because of ugh. _"Rivalry."_ Emphasis on rivalry. (If you hadn't noticed. :p) Marvel and Disney did it, it turned out alright- why can't you?! IT'D BE THE BEST THING EVER!

Um, anyways, now that I'm done ranting-

Disclamer: Well, I don't want to be like Jacob Two-Two so- reread the authors notes if ya ABSOLUTELY have to. :p

(Don't hate me, but ONE MORE THING, I'm placing Rise of the Guardians in a different time just so that it all makes more sense. Everyone will still be the same, it'll just be in a different time setting. You know, cause ROTG is set in our time, and obviously the others aren't.)

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter One: The Beginnings

**Frost Comes a Nippin'**

_Darkness. That's the first thing I remember. It was dark, and it was cold- and I was scared. But then, then I saw the moon. It was so big, and it was so bright! It seemed to...chase the darkness away...and when it did, I wasn't scared anymore._

A young man with frosty white hair, icy blue eyes, a blue hooded sweater, brown pants, and no shoes, was drawn out of the icy cold water of a lake. He floated up gently and stared at the huge full moon. Then he slowly got lowered down on the ice. He wobbled slightly from being unbalanced, but caught himself.

_Why I was there, and what I was meant to do, I didn't even know. And a part of me wondered if I ever will._

After staring up at the moon, the young man carefully stepped forwards. He slid a bit, but didn't fall. He started looking around while he walked, when suddenly he felt something strange touch his foot. He looked down to see a staff. He looked at it curiously and touched his other foot to it. Surprisingly, frost appeared as if by magic at the spot where it touched. He bent down and picked up the staff. More frost appeared in a flowery pattern in the grooves of the staff. Surprised even more, he let one hand go of the staff and it hit the ice. Amazingly, it created frost on the ice similar to the frost on his staff. He looked at a near by tree and touched the hooked end of the staff to the tree.

More frost. He tried it on another tree. Again, the same thing happened! His excitement began to overcome him, and he began to skate around lighting up the wooded lake with beautifully patterned frost. Suddenly in the midst of his fun, he was lifted up by wind! He tried to reach out to stop but he didn't. Then he was just...floating. In the air. High above the now frosty ground below. But that ended almost as soon as it began. He free fell until he hit a large branch. Despite being a little injured, he laughed. He hadn't had that much fun since...well...never mind. He stopped laughing as something caught his eye in the distance. A town. There were lights. He could hear the people, thanks to the wind.

He let the wind clumsily take him to it. He landed and he tried to balance out, but he fell. As quickly as he fell he was right back up. He turned his attention to the people. He laughed a bit as they walked by. He noticed someone coming towards him. "Hello!" he said happily. He saw a woman talking with someone near a house. "Good evening ma'am." She didn't seem to hear him. "Ma'am?" he said. He was about to go further, when a young child was walking up to him. "Oh, uh, hi, e-excuse me, could you tell me where I am?" he asked. But he didn't get an answer.

The answer he got was an unpleasant feeling in his stomach as the child...ran right _through_ him. Like a he was a ghost. He stood up instantly in shock as he tried to restore his breathing pattern. But then another person walked through him. Then another...and another. He was invisible. "Hello!" he called out. No one answered. "Hello?" he said more quietly.

_My name, is Jack Frost. How do I know that? The moon told me so. That was all he ever told me._

Jack stumbled backwards away from the village in dread of never being noticed or heard and into the forest.

_That was a long...long time ago._

About a hundred years or so later, the North Pole was thriving with action. A big man with a white beard and heavy Scottish or Irish accent- or was it something else? Hm, let's settle on Russian. Um, anyways, the man put down a large cube of ice. He then chain sawed a chunk off and laughed. "Still waitin' for cookies!" he said happily. He went to his desk and grabbed a tiny hammer and nail. He just barely dodged a couple of tiny elves carrying a tray of cookies. He started humming to himself as he chipped away at the ice. Once he finished, he blew frost off of the tiny ice train and set it on its track. It moved with the magic. The man laughed excitedly. "Yes!" he said.

The two elves finally managed to hop up on the table with the cookies. One of them looked at the other and pointed a finger at him. Then he pointed at the plate. The other elf sighed and drooled out cookie crumbs from his mouth on to the plate. "Ah, finally!" said the large man. Luckily for them, he hadn't noticed. The man took a cookie and munched happily. He laughed as his train glided on its tracks and flew gracefully off them as it turned into a jet.

This man, was North. Or as he is known around the world...Santa Clause. The gift giver on Christmas Eve.

The train was flying by the door to the workshop room, when suddenly the door burst open smashing the train to bits on the floor. "Ah!" cried North. He looked at who came in. It was a one of his yeti workers. "Ah!" cried the yeti. North cried again, then the yeti cried again.

North sighed. "How many times have I told you to KNOCK?" he said. The yeti started speaking in his language and gestured out side the doors. North looked at him. "What? The glow?" he said questioningly. He grabbed his sword and headed out.

"Shoooee with your pointy hats. Why are you always under boot?" said North as he entered the meeting hall. He pushed passed his two yeti's and stared at the sight. In the room was a large globe of the world. Little lights pin pointed all of the believers of the world. But something was wrong. The lights were going out. "What is this..." wondered North. "Have you checked the axis? Is rotation balanced?" the yeti's nodded.

Suddenly a dark and eerie wind picked up. A dark shadow loomed over the globe. The elves scattered as North's eye's widened and the room became darkened. The dark shadows circled then split apart in a quick motion. Soon the shape of a man with a pointed head could be seen. A man that was all to familiar to North and the yeti's. Then it disappeared. "Can it be..." said North. "Dingle!" About five elves stood at attention as one pointed to himself. Then they looked at each other confused. "Make preparations. We are goin' to have company."

North turned a handle on the globe's platform, and turned it ninety degrees. An aurora borealis appeared all over the globe and extended into the skies.

In a not so far away tower, little bird like fairy's returned with little children's teeth. Their leader, Toothania, but you could call her Tooth, was getting all excited about a child's first tooth. "Look how well she flossed!" she finished. A little fairy got her attention. Tooth gasped, and looked out on the horizon. The Northern Lights. North. Within minutes, she and her fellow fairy's flew out towards the workshop.

"My fellow guardians, it is our job to watch over the children of the world, and keep them safe. To bring wonder, hope, and dreams. And so I've called you all here for one reason, and one reason only. The children are in danger." said North.

Near by, high in the sky, a small golden figure spread his golden sand across the world bringing sweet dreams to all of the children. Then he noticed the lights. He gathered up his sand into a plane, and headed off.

"The enemy we have kept at bay for centuries, has finally decided to strike back. We alone can stop him."

On the workshop grounds, a hole appeared in the snow. Then a large rabbit, the size of a grown man, hopped out. "Oh it's freezing!" he complained in an Australian accent. He hopped towards the workshop. "Oh I can't feel my feet!" he bitterly repeated. This was the Easter Bunny. Or Bunnymund. But you could call him Bunny for short.

"Sandy! Thank you for coming!" said North. Sandy floated down and gave him an annoyed look. "I know, I know. But I obviously wouldn't have called you all here, unless it was serious." said North. Tooth stopped talking to her little fairy's and listened in. "The boogey man was here." North said quietly. "At the pole."

Tooth gasped. "Pitch? Pitch Black? Here?" she said and exchanged worried glances with Sandy, or otherwise known as, the Sandman. "Yes." said North. "There was black sand, covering the globe-" Bunny interrupted.

"Wh-wh-what do you mean black sand?" he asked.

"And then, a shadow!"

"Hold on, hold on! I thought you said you saw Pitch." said Bunny. He was taking notes while North spoke.

"Well, uh, not _exactly_..." said North. He scratched the back of his head.

"Not exactly? Can you believe this guy?" Bunny asked Sandy. A question mark formed above the golden Sandman's head as he shrugged. "Yeah, you said it Sandy." chuckled Bunny.

"Look," North said seriously, "he's up to something very bad. I _feel it_." he glanced down. "In my belly!" he said quietly as he grasped his stomach. Bunny gave him a look. "Hang on, hang on, yo-you mean to say, you summoned me here three days before Easter, _because of your belly_?" he said. "If-if I did this to you three days before Christmas-"

"Bunny," North said silencing the rabbit, "Easter- is not Christmas ha-ha!" he finished and grabbed an egg from Bunny. The large human sized rabbit laughed unamused. "Here we go." he began.

In the background, Sandy watched them in disbelief. He shook his head and looked at his left hand which was holding a cup of tea- that an elf was drinking out of. He moved the tea cup away and frowned at the little creature as he fell from the table. Then something caught his eye.

He gazed at the window to see the giant full moon shining through. He looked at North and Bunny, who were still arguing by the way, and pointed to the moon. They didn't notice him. He huffed silently. He couldn't exactly speak. He tried whistling, but the only thing that happened was a music note appeared above his head. It wasn't often, but there were very rare occasion when Sandy wished he could speak. Ugh, how could they not notice the moon? He tried waving his arms again but as Tooth interrupted their little banter, only a flag began waving above Sandy's head.

"Tooth," said North, she turned to him, "can't you see we're trying to argue?"

"Sorry!" she said playfully. "Not all of us get to work one night a year- am I right Sandy?" she leaned to her left to look at him behind North. He smiled at the fact of finally being noticed. An arrow that was pointing to the moon appeared on his head and he pointed at it. For one split second, he thought she noticed. She gasped. "San de go, sector two!" she buzzed on ignoring him. Ugh.

"Pitch died out with the dark ages, and we made sure." began Bunny. Sandy huffed in silence again. "I know he was here. We are in a serious situation!" said North. As he was speaking, Sandy noticed an elf hanging out holding a mushroom. With his eyes narrowed, Sandy stalked over to the little pointy creature. He grabbed it with it's hat, and held it out to his left. He shook it vigorously until the others looked at him. He formed a crescent moon above his head and pointed to the window- still glaring.

North's eyes widened. He looked at the window. "Ah! Man in Moon! Sandy, why didn't you say something?" he said. Sandy shook his head and huffed as sand spewed out of his ears. North turned to the Man in the Moon. "It's been a long time old friend! What is big news?" he asked.

They all gathered around a large round table like structure with a design on it. The shadow of a man with a pointed nose and tall body appeared. The guardians looked at it in shock. "It is Pitch." said Bunny.

North gave him a look that said, "I told you so" and patted his belly. "Manny, what must we do?" he asked. A strong moon beam lit up the centre circle on the table. The circle opened up and was pushed down. A platform pushed up holding a large crystal. "Oh guys, you know what this means?" said Tooth.

"He's chosen a new guardian!" North said amazed. Bunny looked at him. "What?" he said. "Why?"

"It must be big deal. Manny thinks we need help." said North.

"Since when do we need help?" said Bunny. Clearly he wasn't keen on the idea. However, Tooth was. "I wonder who it's gonna be!" she said excitedly. Sandy smiled. A four leaf clover appeared above his head. "Maybe the Leprechaun?" Tooth said for him.

Bunny held his hands together and hoped with all his might that it wasn't the Ground Hog. North waited in excitement as the crystal began to glow. A figure of a hooded man in a sweater with a staff appeared. North looked pleased. "Jack Frost." he said. The little faerie's swooned. "Uh, I take back. The Ground Hog's fine." he said.

Tooth snapped out of making a dreamy expression. "Wh-a-uh- as long as he helps to uh, protect the children. Right?" she said smiling.

"JACK FROST?! He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water parts, and, and mess with my egg hunts! He's an irresponsible, selfish-"

"Guardian." finished North.

"Jack Frost is many things, but he is _NOT_ a guardian!" said Bunny.

Meanwhile, in a small town, frost was appearing along the streets. People slid, and a child got his tongue stuck to a cup of water. Other mischief happenings occurred as the one and only Jack Frost laughed along the way. He floated up a large post. "That looks fine." he said to no one. "Hey, wind!" the small breeze soon became as strong as a hurricane. "Take me home!" Jack shouted. He flew from the post, and into the cloudy sky. He began to descend to the town. "Snow day!" he shouted.

He flew through town carefully avoiding having to fly through people- he hated that sick feeling. It ruined his moments. He flew to the pond where he came from, in which he called home, and flew past a young boy. His wind had knocked the book he was reading out of his hands. The boy ran after it and picked it up. Jack noticed him and sailed down beside him. Not that the boy noticed.

Jack saw the title of the book, _Mysterious Times_. "Huh that looks interesting. Good book?" he knew he wouldn't get an answer though. In a couple of seconds, the boys friends caught up to him. Jack laughed. "You're welcome!" he said happily.

"I hope we can find eggs with all this snow!" said one of the boys. The kids unlocked a fence and walked through. The first young boy had his nose in the book. "It says here that they've found Bigfoot hair samples and footprints! In Don Broch! That's like, super close!" he said.

"Here we go again." sighed the second boy.

"You saw those footprints too Claud, he's out there!" said the first boy.

"Those were just our neighbours trying to give us a scare when we were camping." said Claud.

"Ha! Scared? They should have known that the "Bigfoot" prank was a bad idea since Jamie was there." said the other boy. The first boy looked at him. "Hey. You don't know that it doesn't exist!" he said.

"But we don't know that it does!" said Claud.

"Hm, good point. But they do. Yeti's anyway..." said Jack. "I've never met a Bigfoot."

Once again, they didn't hear him and carried on. "That's what you said about _aliens_!" said the third boy, who's name was Caleb.

"And the Easter Bunny!" laughed Claud.

"Well, the Easter Bunny _is real_." Jamie said. He played around with his home made sled. Jack walked back and forth on the fence. "Oh he's real alright. Real annoying, real grumpy, and _really_ full of himself." he said.

"Come on, you'll believe anything!" laughed Claud. A young blonde girl came out of a near by house. "Easter Bunny! Hop! Hop! Hop!" she said happily. Jack guessed that this was Jamie's sister. They resembled each other fairly well. "Ow!" suddenly the girl fell as their family dog accidentally knocked her over. She began to tear up. "Mom, Sophie fell again!" called Jamie. A young woman stepped out and took care of her daughter. "You okay Sophie?" she asked.

"Hey Jamie, put on your hat. You don't want Jack Frost snippin' at your nose." she said. She placed a toque on Jamie's head as he turned around and sighed. "Who's Jack Frost?" he asked.

"No one honey, it's just an expression." she said. Jack blinked. "Hey!" but he knew it was no use. No one believed in him here. He tried to ignore that sinking feeling and tried to make the best of things. The kids went back out of the fence Jamie with his sled. Jack jumped down and picked up some snow and made a snowball. "Who's Jack Frost?" he said. He blew on the snowball causing it to frost over. He threw it. The ball hit Jamie smack in the neck. Invisible blue sparkles floated around his face. He began to laugh. "Okay, who threw that?" he asked.

"Well, it wasn't Bigfoot kiddo." said Jack.

Jamie then made a snow ball. He threw it at one of the other kids who fell face first into a pile of snow. Then he threw another one at a young girl named Pippa, knocking her down as well. "Jamie Bennet, no fair!" she pouted. Jamie laughed. "You threw first!" he said.

The war was on.

The kids all scrambled about throwing and dodging. Well, they _tried_ to dodge anyways. "Alright, free for all!" said Jack. He loved snowball fights. "Who needs ammo?"

Suddenly a snowball hit another girl Jack hadn't noticed before. She didn't look too friendly. She turned around and glared at the others. "Mont, I hit Cupcake!" Pippa said quietly. The boy with blond hair and glasses pointed at her worriedly. "She hit Cupcake." he said.

"You hit Cupcake..." Claud whimpered. Jamie tried to hide under his toboggan. He just had to be the lucky one to be one foot away from her. She growled and was about to destroy a large snowman head above Jamie. He hoped with all his life that he wouldn't be the one she dumped it on. He loved snow and all, but that was a bit much. He hated it when it went down his shirt. Suddenly a snowball came out of nowhere and hit her in the face.

The kids braced themselves. "Did you throw that?" Runt asked Claud. He held his hands behind his back. "Nope." he said.

"It wasn't me." said Pippa. Jamie dared to peer out from his sled. He lowered it and gave a look of curiousness, as Cupcake's expression suddenly changed from anger, to happiness. She also began laughing.

Soon all the kids were running from Cupcake playfully in order to avoid her giant snowball. The one that use to be the snowman's head. "Whoa, slippery." said Jack as he ran along side Jamie who was in the lead with his sled. Jack accidentally made some ice, in which Jamie slid upon. He fell on to his sled, and zoomed off a snow ramp. "Huh? Jamie stop!" Claud called.

Jamie just yelled in response. Jack created an ice path for Jamie as he zoomed through he town. He couldn't control his sled at that point, but hoped for the best as he closely dodged people, horses and- well, everything really. "Hang on kid, I got ya." said Jack. He guided the boy around some fruit stands. "No, no, nonononono!" Jamie managed to say as he dodged more things and people. He just barely slid under a person and her dog's leash. Jamie bumped into a man who was helping carrying some furniture out of an old unused house. "Sorry! Can't stop!" Jamie shouted frantically. He gasped as he was coming up close to a large Stallion horse with a large carriage behind it. Jamie closed his eyes in a split second of fright.

In that second however, he felt himself turning left just in time. Then he flew off another snow ramp and high into the air. Everything seemed to slow down for him. His friends looked up in awe and wonder. Then Jamie crash landed next to a statue. Jamie lay in the snow next to his sled. He blinked as the short pain drifted away. "Whoa, that looks serious." said Claud. They rushed over. "Are you alright?" asked Pippa.

Jamie slowly got up. "Whoooa..." he laughed. "Did you guys see that! It was amazing! I slid and did a jump, and then I slid under ah!" he gave a shout of surprise as a red couch came zooming in. It looked like it squished him. The kids winced. Jack blinked. "Oops..." he said. He saw Jamie blink for a moment then he shot up his hand. "Cool my tooth!" he said.

"That means catch!" said Claud.

"Oh no..." sighed Jack.

"Toothfairy catch!" said Jamie.

"No!"

"I gotta go put this under my pillow!" said Jamie. The kids began to leave the scene. "No, okay, hold on, hold on, what about the fun we just had? That wasn't the Toothfairy, that was _me_!" shouted Jack. It was no use. He jumped up and stood in Jamie's path. "What's a guy gotta do to get a little attention around here-" That didn't stop him though. He walked right through Jack like he was a ghost.

Jack sighed. That sick feeling always ruined his fun. No matter what time of year, or day. He walked away from the kids.

Later that evening, Jamie still had so much energy after his slide through town. He was telling his little sister all about it, along with arm motions. "And then, BAM! This sofa hit me! And, and see?" he pointed to the hole where his tooth was. "My tooth came out!" Sophie awed and giggled at his story. She didn't really understand much of it, but she liked stories. She liked the part where Jamie went flying.

"Alright, did you put the tooth under your pillow?" asked their mother who'd just come in. Jamie leaned over and blew out his candle. "Yeah." he said while his sister was still giggling.

"Now don't try and stay up all night to see her Jamie." said his mother. Jamie sighed. "But I can do it this time!" he said. He turned to Sophie. "You want to help me Soph? We can hide and see the Toothfairy!" Sophie started clapping. "Hide! Hide! Hide!" she said excitedly.

Their mother lifted up his sister. "No dear." she said. Jamie sighed again. "Alright..." he said. He glanced at his window. "Huh. Frost...Hey mom?" he said. She turned before shutting the door. "Who is Jack Frost exactly? You said it was an expression?" His mother laughed. He gave her a questioning look. "Yes, I did say that. Well Jamie, to find that out you might have to do a little digging. Maybe look in some of your books." she said, smiling. Jamie frowned. "Okay..." he sighed. He could just never get a straight answer from her with questions like that. He got out one of his odd fact books.

"Tomorrow, Jamie." said his mother. He sighed again. "Read, don't read, what do ya want from me?" he said. His mother laughed. "Oh Jamie. Good night dear." She kissed him on the head. "Good night mom." he said.

Outside of the house, hanging upside down and looking into the window, was Jack. He smiled at Jamie's frustration. _"Kids."_ he thought. He got up and walked along the rooftop. "If there's something I'm doing wrong...could you just...tell me what it is?" he asked the moon. "Because I've tried- _everything_, and no one ever sees me." He got no response. "You put me here. The least you can do is tell me...tell me why." he finished.

He frowned and walked away. He walked across another roof. Suddenly, golden sand streams began to appear. Jack watched one swirl around him. He chuckled. "Right on time Sandman." he said.

**Of Rights and Arrows**

_Some say destiny is tied to the land. As much apart of the people as they are of it. Other's say fate is woven together like a cloth. So that one's destiny intertwines with many other's. It's the one thing we search for. Our fight to change. Some never find it. But there are some... who are led._

_Some people... like me. My name is Merida._

_The story of how my father to the demon bear Mord'u became legend. I became a sister to three new brothers. The princes Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Wee devils more like. They could get away with murder. I could never get away with anything! I was the princess._

_I was the example. I got duties, responsibilities, expectations! My whole life was planned out! Preparing for the day I became- well my mother. She's in charge of every single day of my life!_

"Project!" said her mother, Queen Elinor. Merida did as she was told. "Annunciate, you must be understood from anywhere in the room!" Elinor said loudly. She was walking up the staircase to the second level of the room. "Or it's all for not!" she finished.

"This is all for not." muttered Merida.

"I heard that!" Merida sighed. "From the top!"

"A princess must be knowledgeable about her kingdom." explained Elinor. She turned around from the board only to find her daughter scribbling. She lifted the page. "She does nit doodle." she said strictly.

She also had a mandolin practice. That was excruciating. She just irritably strummed the notes. "That's a C dear." said Elinor. Merida scoffed silently.

While holding a hawk, Merida tried to feed it. The bird shot off her arm and flying at the king. Merida couldn't help but laugh. It was such a funny sight seeing her father being tackled by a bird! Her father was a big man at that. "A princess does not chortle!" interrupted Elinor. Merida sighed. Maybe the accidental snorting was a bit much, but she couldn't help it!

_Yeah, yeah. A princess rises early, is compassionate, patient. Cautious, clean. Let's not forget that a princess strives for- well,_ perfection. _But- every once in a while, there's a day when I don't have to be a princess!_

Merida got up happily for once. She got dressed, and grabbed her bow and arrows. She made her way through the town's people on the stairs. Not at all princess like. _This day was special. No lessons. No expectations. A day when anything can happen!_

_A day when I could change my fate._

She jumped off of the stairwell, surprising people, and got on her horse, Angus. "Yah!" she screamed happily. They road off as fast as Angus could go! Through the forest Merida got her arrows ready for fire! She had targets set up all over the place. She always hit them. Dead centre. She was that good. While on a horse!

She cried out as happy as ever.

While resting on a cliff, and carving a design into her bow, she saw an eagle. Then she saw- it. That peek. Only the bravest men climbed it. Then she got an idea. She started to climb.

She only stumbled a bit, and that was close to the top. Then she'd made it! The peek was by a beautiful water fall. Since she was thirsty, she cautiously walked over and cupped her hands under the spray. She took a drink. Accomplishment instantly took over. She cheered as loudly as she could! She had just climbed it!

But all good has to come to an end eventually. Getting off of her horse at the stable, she realised something. "I'm starvin'. You're hungry too I guess." she said to Angus. He flicked his tail in her face. That caused for a mouthful of hair. "Pfft! Oats it is then." she said, spitting out hair. She led him to the food.

Merida made her way into the kitchen area, taking some food along the way to the table. Making sure no one noticed, she spun around and took a plate of desserts. Mostly for her brothers. Her father was in the middle of telling his legend.

"Biggest bear you've ever seen!" he said with his arms up. "His hide levelled with the weapons of fallin' warriors! His face scared! With one dead eye. I threw me sword aaaand-"

"Whooosh!" Merida said loudly. She suddenly stood in between her brothers which startled them. "With one swipe his sword shattered! Then chomp! Dad's leg was clean off! Down the monster's throat it went..." Merida finished her father's story.

"Aw that's my favourite part!" he said dramatically.

"Mord'u has never been since." said Merida, she was stepping just behind her father. "And is roaming the wilds, waitin' for his chance of revenge."

"Rraaaaaahrrrr! Raaar! Raarr! Rarr! Raaaaa!" she screamed. She then walked over and sat at the table with her family. "Let'im return. I'll finish what I gutted in the first place." said Fergus. Merida placed her bow on the table. "Merida. A princess will not place her weapons on the table." said Elinor. Merida groaned. "Muuuuummm." she moaned. "It's just my bow."

"A princess should not _have_ weapons in my eyes." finished Elinor.

"Leave her be. Princess or not. Learnin' to fight is essential." said Fergus.

"Mum, you'll never guess what I did today." said Merida.

"Hm?" said Elinor.

"I climbed the Cone's Tooth, and drank from the Fire Falls." Merida said. All three of her brothers looked up in amazement. "Fire Falls. They say only the ancient kings were brave enough to drink the fire." said Fergus, Merida made a face and they began to laugh.

"What did you do dear?" asked Elinor. Had she not heard? Her nose was deeply into those pages she was looking over. Maybe she hadn't. But then again... Merida sighed. "Nothin' mum." she sighed.

"Hungry aren't we?" said Elinor.

"Muuuuuum."

"You get dreadful collywobbles. Fergus. Would you look at your daughter's plate." said Elinor. Fergus looked. He didn't get what the problem was. "So what?" he said. Just then, a two dogs came charging at him.

"Don't let them li-ugh. Boys. Not- don't just play with your haggis." said Elinor. The middle boy stabbed his with a fork and held it in one of his brother's face. The boy looked as though he was ready to barf. "Now how do you know if you don't like it if you don't try it? That's just a wee sheep's stomach. It's delicious. " said Elinor.

Then the mail was brought to her. "Thank you Maudie." said Elinor as she took the envelopes. This was her chance. "Pst." whispered Merida. Her brothers looked at her. She pointed to the breads on the plate and slowly put them under the table. She eyed her mother carefully. "Ah ha. Their responses no doubt. Fergus." Fergus and Merida looked at her. "They've all accepted." she said.

Merida was confused. Accepted? What? She looked at her mother, then at Fergus, and back at her mother. "Who's accepted what mother?" she asked.

"Boys. You are excused." said Elinor. The boys all scampered away to who knows where. One of them tripped spilling buns everywhere in which the dogs took to notice. They left Fergus and went after the buns. "Wwhhhaaat did I do now?" asked Merida, turning back to her parents.

"Your father has somethin' to discuss with you." Elinor said looking at Fergus. He spit out his drink. "Fergus." said Elinor.

"Oh um." said Fergus. He cleared his throat. Probably more than needed. "Uhm. Merida." he said, a bit awkwardly. He paused as he opened his mouth. Elinor sighed. "The lords are presenting their sons as suitors for your betrothed!" she explained.

"What?!" gasped Merida.

"The clans have accepted!" finished Elinor.

"Daaaad!" Merida screamed.

"What? I- I- y-y- she- Elinor!" said Fergus.

"Honestly Merida. I don't know why you're reacting this way." said Elinor. Merida let out sounds of frustration. Then her head went down on the table. "This year each clan will present a suitor to compete in the games, for your hand." said Elinor.

Merida looked up and slammed a fist on the table. "I suppose a princess just _does_ what she's told!" she yelled.

"A princess does not raise her voice." Elinor said strictly. "Merida. This is what you've been preparin' for your whole life."

"No! It's what _you've_ been preparin' for my whole life!" Merida stood up angrily. "I won't go through with it! You can't make me!" she stomped out with her bow.

"Merida." said Elinor, angry now herself. She looked at Fergus. "Oh. Merida!" he called after her. He got up and was about to leave- but apparently his shoes were tied together. He tripped tumbling the table over. The dogs came back for the food. "Booooys!" he yelled. Elinor got up and went after Merida.

Merida was in her room angrily beating her sword against wood. She saw Elinor. "Mother! Suitors! _Marriage!_" she cried.

"Once. There was an ancient kingdom." began Elinor. Merida groaned. "Muuum!" she said. She fell flat on her bed. "Ancient kingdom." she sighed. She flopped to the floor.

"It's name long forgotten. Ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved. And when he grew old, he divided the kingdom among his four sons. That they should be the pillars of which the peace of the land rested. But, the oldest prince, wanted to rule the land for himself. He followed his own path and the kingdom fell. To war, and chaos, and ruin." said Elinor.

"That's a nice story." mocked Merida.

"It's not just a story Merida. Legends are lessons, they ring with truth!"

"Ugh. Mum." said Merida.

"I would advise you to make your peace with this. The clans are comin' to present their suitors." said Elinor.

"It's _not fair!_"

"Merida. It's marriage. It's not the end of the world." Elinor was ending the discussion and began to leave. Merida walked after her. She wanted to say more, but the words weren't coming out. So, she slammed her door shut.

Later that night, Elinor was sewing a tapestry of her, Fergus, and Merida, and muttering to herself. "You're mutterin'." said Fergus. Elinor looked up. "I don't mutter." she said.

"Aye ya do. Ya mutter lass. When somethin's troublin' you."

"I blame you. Stubbornness. Is entirely from your side of the family." said Elinor.

"Oh. I take it the talk didn't go too well then." said Fergus.

"Ugh. I don't know what to do." sighed Elinor.

"Speak to her dear." suggested Fergus.

"I do speak to her. She just doesn't listen." said Elinor.

"Come on now! Pretend I'm Merida. Speak to me. What would you say?" said Fergus. He pulled up a chair and sat down. Elinor stared at her husband for a moment. "Wh-I can't do this." she said.

"Sure ya can." said Fergus. Elinor gave him a look. "There! There! That's my queen! Right, now." he suddenly changed from Fergus to a weird version of Merida. "I don't want to get married! I want to stay single and let my hair fly through the wind as I ride through the gland! Firing arrows into the sunset!" he said in a weird high voice. He looked at Elinor expectantly.

She stared at him in disbelief, but got into character. She took a deep breath. "Merida. All this work, all the times spent preparin' you, schoolin' you, givin' you everythin' we never had. I ask you what do you expect us to do?"

"Call off the gatherin'! Would that kill them? You're the queen, you can just tell the lords, the princess is not ready for this! And in fact, she might not ever be ready for this! So that's that. Good day to you! Will expect your declarations of war in the mornin'." Meanwhile, Merida herself was thinking about what she would say to Elinor. She was cleaning up the stable.

"I understand this must all seem, unfair, even I had reservations when I faced betrothal." Fergus glanced at her realising what she just said. "Eh?" he said.

"But we can't just run away from who we are."

"I don't want my life to be over! I want freedom!"

"But are you willin' to pay the price your freedom will cost?"

"I'm not doin' any of this to hurt you."

"If you could just _try _to see what I do. I do act of love."

"But it's my life! It's- ugh. I'm just not ready."

"I think it's i- if you could just-"

"I think I could make you understand if you would just-"

"Listen!"

"Listen!" Merida was actually talking to Angus. He whinnied. "I swear Angus, this isn't goin' to happen." she said. She petted Angus. "Not if I have any say in it."

**A/N**: It's finished! These first two chapters will just be the introductions of the characters. I split it in two because my word processor said it was like, twenty-five pages. SO, that would have been REALLY long... Don't worry, chapter two will be much more interesting.

On a side note-

Luckily I had most of this down before I came up with this idea in case I needed it. Except for ROTG. Lol.

Hope you enjoyed it anyhow. Please R & R! :)


	2. The Beginnings (Part Two)

**A/N**: Now it's Part Two of the intros. :D

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter Two: The Beginnings (Part Two)

**Every Town Has its Pests**

_Berk. It's twelve days north of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery. The village. In a word? Sturdy. It's been here for seven generations but every single building is new. These people have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see most places have mice, or mosquitoes, we have-_

A young boy, about fourteen, got inside his house just in time for a blast of fire. "Dragons!" he said. Then houses and crops began to burn. Most people would leave. Not them. They're vikings. They have stubbornness issues. The boy ran outside into the mess of people, dragons, and sheep. He was looking for a certain building._ My name, is Hiccup. Great name right? But it's not the worst. _Hiccup dodged a few vikings blows at some dragons. _My parents believed that a hideous name would frighten off gnomes and trolls. _He stumbled a bit, as a dragon blew flames a little ways away from him. He then lost his balance and fell on his back from the shock wave.

_Like our Viking demeanor wouldn't frighten them away. _"Aaaah! Mornin'!" said a Viking as he jumped over Hiccup. He got up and continued what he was doing. He ignored the- 'what are you doing here?' and 'get inside!' and such. Hiccup wasn't exactly the strongest of the bunch. Or like other vikings in general. He was tall, skinny and lanky. The exact opposite of the average Viking. Anyone like him would stay inside and let the others do the work. Not him. Well, he _was_ a Viking after all.

Suddenly he was picked up by his collar. At first he panicked at the thought of a dragon. But then he realised- "Hiccup! What is he doing out agai- what are you doing out?! Get inside!" said the man. He was big, strong, and fierce. This, was Stoik the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby, he popped a dragon's head clean off it's shoulders. Did Hiccup believe it? Yes he did.

"What have we got?" asked Stoik. He turned to a fellow Viking. "Grunkles, Nadders, Zipplebacks, oh and lots of Monstrous Nightmares." said the Viking. One of the dragons blew flames near them. "Any Night Furies?" asked Stoik.

"None so far." said the Viking.

"Good." said Stoik.

Hiccup ran past catapults with flaming boulders. He finally made it to the weaponry. "Oh, oh nice of you to join the party! I you've been carried off!" said the owner. Hiccup made his way to the back of the building. "What, who me? Nah, come on I'm waaay too muscular for their taste. They wouldn't know what to do with all this!" said Hiccup as he gestured to all of himself.

"Well, they need toothpicks don't they?" said the Viking. Hiccup began helping him get organized with the weapons. The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands, was Gobber. Hiccup has been his apprentice ever since he was little. Well, littl_er_.

"We'll move to the lower defences. We'll counter attack with the catapults." said Stoik. They moved fast as a dragon blew down a near by house. See? Old village, lots of new houses. "Fire!" shouted someone.

Close by, Hiccup watched a group of teens join in the fight and put out fires. There was Fishlegs, Hiccup's cousin Snotlout, the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and-

A house went up in flames- and Astrid. _Oh their job was so much cooler. _Hiccup got one leg up on the window sil. Although, he didn't get far. Gobber grabbed him by the collar. "Oh come on! Let me out, please? I need to make my mark!" said Hiccup. Gobber set him down. "Oh you've made plenty of marks. All in the wrong places!" he said.

"Please. Two minutes, I'll kill a dragon! My life will get infinitely better- I might even get a date!" said Hiccup. He was very annoyed now. Just _once_ he'd like to be able to prove something. No one ever listened. "You can't lift a hammer. You can't swing an axe, you can't even throw one of these!" said Gobber. With that, a Viking grabbed it and threw it at a Grunkle and brought it down. "Okay fine but this- will throw it for me!" said Hiccup. He backed up to his homemade catapult-like weapon. He padded it, and it accidentally let loose a boulder. It flew out the window and hit a Viking. "See? Now this right here, is what I'm talkin' about!" said Gobber. He walked up to Hiccup, who backed up. "Th-the-the mild calibration-" he started, but didn't finish.

"Hiccup! If you want to get out there, and fight dragons, you need to stop all... this." said Gobber. He did a little gesturing. "But you just pointed to all of me!" said Hiccup, even more frustrated.

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you!" said Gobber.

"Oooohh..."

"Oh yea." said Gobber.

"Y-you sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw Viking-ness, contained! There will be consequences!" said Hiccup. Gobber didn't even flinch. "I'll take my chances." he said plainly. He handed Hiccup a blade. Hiccup caught it awkwardly. "Start sharpin'. Now." said Gobber.

Hiccup sighed and went to the sharpener. _One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here._

_A NadderHead, was sure to get me at least noticed. Grunkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend. A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status. Then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire. But the ultimate prize, is the dragon no one's ever seen. A hissing noise played through the air. It's called the-_

"Night Fury!" shouted a Viking.

"Get down!" shouted another.

A blast of blue, purple, white flames was shot down. Hiccup flinched, then looked out the window. _This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and- another shot was blasted. Never misses. No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That's why I'm gonna to be the first._

"Man the fort Hiccup, they need ME out there!" said Gobber. He attached a weapon where his hook for a hand was. He made it to the door, then turned around. "Stay. Put. There. You know what I mean." he said, and left. So did Hiccup. Out the back of course. With the 'Mangler' as he called his catapult. Once again, he ignored the: 'what are you doing?!'

"Yeah, I know, be right back!" he called. He arrived in a more safer zone amongst the chaos. He got the Mangler ready. He waited.

"Come on. Give me something to shoot at. Give me something to shoot at." he said under his breath.

He heard the familiar hissing sounds of the Night Fury. He saw it's black body amongst the flames. He aimed. He fired. Hiccup accidentally fell backwards during the process, but he heard an unmistakable cry of pain from above. He stared into the sky. "Whoa I hit it." he said, he jumped up. "Yes I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" he spun around.

Suddenly, a dragon was behind him. A Monstrous Nightmare. "Except for you." he said plainly. He began running for his life. Finally, he'd managed to duck cover behind a large post. The dragon fired, but he didn't get burned. He looked towards his right to see if it was there not realising it was behind him. Out of nowhere, Stoik came and tackled the dragon. The dragon gave a pathetic spittle of flames. "You're all out." Stoik said. He punched the dragon a few times.

Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know. Hiccup stood slightly frozen behind the post as the burned bottom of it finally gave away. The post fell sideways, revealing Hiccup to Stoik.

The beam hit another building, which started a chain reaction. Hiccup flinched each time something was destroyed. "Sorry... dad..." he said.

The dragons then left the island. The two of them watched in an awkward silence. Hiccup's eyes moved around nervously. "Okay but I hit a Night Fury." he said quickly. Stoik lifted him up by the collar and started dragging him to the house. "Oh it's not like the last few times dad! I really actually hit it! You guys were busy, and I had a very clear shot. It went down just of Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there-"

"STOP! Just- stop. Every time you step outside disaster falls. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here, and I have an ENTIRE village to feed!" said Stoik. There was a pause. "Eh between you and me the village could do with a little _less feeding_ don't you think?" said Hiccup.

"This isn't a joke Hiccup!" Stoik sighed, "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

"I-I-I can't stop myself! I see a dragon, and I have to just- kill it. You know? It's who I am dad." said Hiccup.

Stoik placed his hand on his forehead. "Oh you are many things Hiccup. But a dragon killer is not one of them. Get back to the house." he said with tiredness to his voice. Hiccup looked at the ground. "Make sure he get's there." Stoik said to Gobber. Gobber smacked Hiccup in the back of the head. "I have his mess to clean up." sighed Stoik.

Hiccup and Gobber started walking. They past the group of teens from before who were laughing.

"What a performance. I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" said Snotlout.

"Thank you. Thank you. I was trying, so..." Hiccup said. He sighed as he heard Snotlout yell in pain as Gobber pushed him back. There were so many emotions in him now. Annoyance, anger, slight sadness, all of the above for the down side. None of the above for the good.

Well, except for the fact that he knew he had hit a Night Fury.

"I really did hit one." said Hiccup. The two were almost at the house. "He never listens. And when he does it's always _disappointed scowl_. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich" he then began imitating his father's accent. "Excuse me barmaid. I'm afraid you've brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms! Extra guts and glory on the side! This here- this is a talkin' fish bone!" he shouted.

"Now you're thinkin' about this all wrong. It's not so much what ya look like. It's what's _inside_ that he can't stand." said Gobber.

Hiccup gave him a look. "Thank you. For summing that up." he said. No amusement whatsoever was in his voice. He turned to go inside. "Look the point is, stop tryin' so hard to be somethin' you're not." said Gobber.

"I just wanna be one of you guys." said Hiccup. Gobber sighed and watched him go inside. But he didn't see him go out the back.

Hiccup wandered through the forest around Raven Point. Looking at his map, then at his surroundings- he sighed. He drew an X on the map, but was frustrated and scribbled all over it. He sighed again, closed his sketchbook, and put it away in his vest. "Oh the gods hate me. Some people loose their knife, mug- No not me. I manage to loose an entire dragon!" he smacked a hanging tree branch-"Ow!" he yelled, it had come back at him.

Then he noticed why the branch was so low. The huge branch was almost off the tree. Something hit it. He followed a trail of destruction. There was a space in the forest that he hadn't seen before. Carefully, he made his way down to it. He peered over the ridge to see what was there.

The Night Fury! Hiccup ducked back down in fear. Nothing. Nothing happened. He cautiously looked back. It was just... lying there. Hiccup got out his knife. Breathing heavily, he slowly walked towards the giant rock just in between him and the dragon. He stepped out from behind it.

"Whoa oh, I-I did it. Whoooa I did! This-this fixes everything! Yes! I have brought down this mighty-" he placed a foot on the dragon's leg, "beast! Ah!" the dragon had moved. It scared the crap out of him and he tumbled back and landed against the rock. Holding his sword out, he stepped forward. Even more slowly than before.

As he got closer, he saw that it's eyes were open. Huge light greenish yellow eyes. _"Whoa."_ he thought. Hiccup blinked and brought his mind back to it's heart. Where his knife was aimed at. But, for some reason, his eyes were once again drawn to the dragon's eyes. Staring at him, the dragon made a small helpless noise.

Hiccup took a deep breath and got ready. "I'm gonna kill you dragon. I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking. I am a Viking!" he said. He closed his eyes and lifted his knife. But again, his eyes unwillingly opened and looked into the dragon's eyes. He closed them again and heard the dragon make a kind of, defeated noise.

After failing to make his arms move, Hiccup brought his hands down on his head. He sighed. He looked at his knife then at the dragon. He took a few steps back. "I did this." he said quietly.

He was about to leave, but looking at the dragon again, he couldn't. Suddenly, he found himself cutting the ropes. One, two, just one more. With the last one gone, the dragon tackled Hiccup against the rock. The dragon stared him down for a moment. After what looked as though he was going to attack, it roared ferociously. Then it just flew off.

Hiccup's breathing came back. His mind was blank. He watched the dragon for a bit, then started to head back. But he fainted.

Coming home late, he quietly shut the door behind him. Hiccup saw his dad poking at the fire. He didn't seem to notice him, so he quietly began to sneak up the stairs. "Hiccup." he froze.

"Dad, uh... uh I have to talk to you." he said slowly. Stoik turned to him. "I need to speak with you too son." he said, clapping his hands together. It sounded serious. Which was not really what he needed at the moment. There was a moment of silence before they said something at the same time. "What?" they said.

"Uh, you first." said Stoik.

"Oh, n-no you go first dad." said Hiccup.

"Okay." he sighed. "You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning." Stoik finished.

"Oh man I should have gone first! Uh, cause I was thinking- you know, we have a surplus, of dragon fighting vikings. But, do we have enough... bread making vikings? Or small home repair vikings- dah!" said Hiccup as Stoik placed a heavy weapon in his arms.

"You'll need this." he said.

"I don't wanna fight dragons." Hiccup finally said. Stoik just laughed. "Oh come on. Yes you do!" he said.

"Rephrase, dad, I CAN'T _kill_ dragons!" said Hiccup.

"But you will kill dragons."

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't."

"It's time Hiccup."

"Can you not _hear me_?"

"This. Is _serious_ son. When you carry this axe. You carry all of us with you. Which means, you walk like us, you talk like us, you _think_ like us. No more... this." said Stoik. He made some hand gestures. "You just gestured to all of me." sighed Hiccup.

"Deal?"

"This conversation is feeling very one sided."

"Deal?!"

Hiccup sighed and looked at the ground. "Deal."

Stoik picked up a sack. "Good. Train hard." he started to leave the house. "I'll be back. Probably." he finished.

"And I'll be here...maybe..."

"Welcome to dragon training!" said Gobber as he lifted the gate to the arena.

"No turning back." said Astrid. The teens walked in. "I hope to get some serious burns!" said Tuffnut.

"I'm hoping for some mauling. Like on my shoulder, or lower back." said Ruffnut.

"Yeah it's only fun when you get a scar out of it." said Astrid.

"Yeah no kidding right?" the other teens stopped walking and looked at the skinny heir. "Pain. Love it." he said, unamused.

"Oh great. Who let _him_ in?" said Tuffnut. Gobber interrupted their little chat. "Let's get started! The new recruit who does best, will win the honour of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village!" he said.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him? Or..." stated Snotlout, the twins started cracking up. "Can I train in the class with the _cool_ Vikings?" he said as the walked away.

"Don't worry," said Gobber, he placed his arm hard around Hiccup's shoulders. "You're small, you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick, or insane, and go after the more Viking like teens instead. Heh, heh. Behind these doors, are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight. Deadly Nadder."

"Speed eight. Armour sixteen." Fishlegs said quietly.

"The hideous Zippleback."

"Stealth times two."

"The Monstrous Nightmare."

"Fire power fifteen!"

"The Terrible Terror."

"Attack eight! Venom twelve!"

"Can you stop that?! And, the Gronkle." finished Gobber. He placed a hand on the door's handle.

"Jaw strength eight." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup. Snotlout stepped forward. "Whoa, whoa! Wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" he said, slightly sounding scared.

"I believe in learnin' on the job." said Gobber. With that, he opened the Gronkle's door! The Gronkle burst out, and started to chase the teens. "Today, is about survival. If you get blasted, you're dead. Quick! What's the first thing you're goin' to need?" said Gobber.

"A doctor?" said Hiccup.

"Plus five speed?" Fishlegs said, frightened.

"A shield!" said Astrid, ready as ever.

"Shield! Go!" said Gobber. The teens all moved quickly and grabbed a shield that was around. "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield!" said Gobber. He saw that Hiccup was struggling with trying to just lift it, so he went over and helped. "If you must make a choice between sword and shield, take the shield." he said, he pushed Hiccup more into the ring.

The twins argued over one particular shield. "Get your hands off of my shield!" said Tuffnut.

"There are like a million shields!"

"Take that one, it has a flower on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut said quickly.

Ruffnut didn't take all too well. She lifted the shield out of Tuffnut's hands, and smacked it on his head. "Oops. Now this one has blood on it." she said.

Out of nowhere, the Gronkle's fire shot at the shield, just barely missing them. "Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" called Gobber.

"What?" they said, disoriented.

"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise! Make lots of it! Throw off the dragon's aim. All dragon's have a limited number of shots. How many does a Gronkle have?" said Gobber.

"Five?" said Snotlout.

"No six!" said Fishlegs.

"Correct! Six! That's one for each of you!" said Gobber. Fishlegs raised his shield with pride, but the pride was taken away when the Gronkle blasted it. "Ah!" he screamed.

"Fishlegs, out." said Gobber.

"Hiccup! Get in there!" he'd finally noticed him cowardly hiding behind a wall. Slowly trying to sneak in. The Gronkle fired and nearly hit him, causing him to go back behind the wall. The Gronkle ignored him and turned to Astrid and Snotlout. "So anyway, I'm moving into my parent's basement. You should come by sometime and work out. You look like you work out." babbled Snotlout to Astrid, who cartwheeled out the way of fire. "Snotlout, you're done!" called Gobber.

Astrid had unwillingly cartwheeled over next to Hiccup. "Well, I guess it's just you and me huh." he said.

"Nope just you." said Astrid. She dodged an on coming blast from the dragon. The blast hit Hiccup's shield, knocking him down. "One shot left!" said Gobber.

Hiccup's shield fell out of his grip and began rolling on it's side away from him. He tried to quickly catch up to it but was failing. "HICCUP!" he heard Gobber call.

Hiccup let his shield roll away, as he began to slightly panic. He was now backed up against the wall, awaiting the kill. The dragon was incredibly close to him. The Gronkle was about to fire, Hiccup closed his eyes. The blast never hit him. It hit just above him instead because Gobber had interrupted the dragon. "And that's six. Go back to bed ya over grown sausage!" shouted Gobber as he threw the flying dragon into it's cavern and locked it. "You'll get another chance. Don't you worry. Remember. A dragon will always, _always_ go for the kill." said Gobber. Mostly to Hiccup. That got him thinking.

"So why didn't you?" he asked himself. He was back in the forest at the spot where he met the Night Fury. He followed the destruction again, and noticed that there was a small opening in the rocks. It led to a beautiful pond surrounded by trees and stone. "Well this was stupid." Hiccup said to himself. He looked down. Then he noticed something. Scales. Dragon scales perhaps. He bent down and picked one up.

His thoughts were interrupted by the Night Fury flying by him.

It seemed to struggle climbing up the stone walls. It glided down towards the opposite end of the lake.

Astonished, Hiccup took advantage of this opportunity. He jumped down carefully to a lower rock sticking out to have a better view. The dragon tried a few times to fly or climb up on the stone walls ahead of him. Hiccup got out his sketch book and began drawing the dragon. He then realised something. "Why don't you just... fly away?" he wondered out loud. He looked at his tail. Or half of it anyways. Then he erased the half he drew in his picture. The dragon tried flying again, but failed as he crash landed by the lake.

He looked like he'd given up on flying. For now. A fish jumped slightly out of water just near his head. The Night Fury got into hunting position. He stuck his head under water. He didn't catch dinner that time.

Hiccup began to have a sad expression on his face as he lowered his arms. But, the grip on his writing utensil loosened by accident. It fell from his hand and tapped against the lower rocks and onto the grassy bottom. He froze. The Night Fury heard it, and saw him. They shared a stare for a moment.

"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the rink today?" asked Gobber. Hiccup headed into the Great Hall. He was late for the dinner. "I miss timed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." said Astrid.

"Yeah. We noticed." said Ruffnut.

"No, no, it looked great. That was _so_ Astrid!" said Snotlout.

"She's right! You have to be tough on yourselves. Where did Hiccup go wrong?" said Gobber. Hiccup tried sitting down at the same table as them, but was rejected. He moved to another. "Uh he showed up?" said Ruffnut.

"He didn't get eaten." chimed her twin.

"He's _never_ where he should be." Astrid also chimed in.

"Thank you. Astrid. You need to live and breath this stuff. The dragon manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of." said Gobber, he placed the book on their table. Then paused as he heard thunder. "Your task tonight. Hurry up." said Gobber.

Tuffnut looked up from his food. "Wait. You mean _read_?" he asked.

"While we're still _alive_?" said Ruffnut.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" said Snotlout. Fishlegs was excited for some reason. "Oh, I've read it like, seven times! There's this water dragon, that sprays boiling water at your face! An-and there's this other one! That burries itself for like a week-"

"Yeah. Sounds great. There was a chance I was gonna read that-" interrupted Tuffnut.

"But now..." said Ruffnut.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." said Snotlout. He got up and began to leave. The twins followed. Same with Fishlegs as he kept babbling. That left Astrid. "So. I guess we'll share-" sighed Hiccup.

"Read it." she said and left as well.

"All mine then. That's great." Hiccup said sarcastically. The doors closed. He sighed for the umpteenth time in his life.

Later that night, began reading the Book of Dragons. "Dragon Classifications. Strike Class. Fear Class. Mystery Class." he began. He turned the page. "Thunderdrum. This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves, and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concessive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight." he turned more pages. "Timberjack. This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Scaldren. Sprays scalding water at it's victim, extremely dangerous- ah!" Hiccup jumped at the sound of thunder.

He went back to the book and turned the page. "Changewing. Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight. Gronkle, Zippleback, the Scrill, Bonenapper, Whispering Death! Burns it's victims, burries it's victims, chokes it's victims, turns it's victims inside out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight-"

He kept turning the pages until he came across a somewhat blank page. "Night Fury. Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightening and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance hide and prey it does not find you." he finished.

Confused, yet interested, he pulled out his sketch book and placed it, picture open, on the blank page.

"H-hey you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies. Is there like another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet? Wha!" said Hiccup. They were in the arena. Battling, yet, another dragon. "Focus Hiccup!" called Gobber. Hiccup ran from the flames.

"You're not even trying!" said Gobber.

There were a bunch of walls, and boulders forming a kind of maze-like arena. The dragon saw him and he ran for his life. "Today, is all about attack! Nadder's, are quick. And light on they're feet. You're job is to be quicker, and lighter." said Gobber.

Fishlegs had just barely escaped the Nadder's attack. "Aaah! I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" he screamed.

Gobber, clearly ignoring him, shouted "Look for it's blind spot! Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike!" while he was saying this, the twins had stumbled almost into the Deadly Nadder's view. They were right in front of it. "Oh. Do you ever bath?" asked Ruffnut.

"You don't like it? Then just get your own blind spot!" said Tuffnut, he hit Ruffnut more out of the way. She didn't take it well. She hit her shield against his. "How about I give you one!" she said.

They started head butting, but it got the dragon's attention. "Blind spot yes. Deaf spot? Mm not so much. He, he, he, he..." said Gobber. He was clearly enjoying himself.

Hiccup stopped running for a second as he approached Gobber. "Hey uhm, so how would one, sneak up on a Night Fury?" he asked.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale!" said Gobber. "Now get in there!"

"I know, I know. But, hypothetically-"

"Hiccup!" he heard his name being whispered. He looked over and saw the gang behind a wall. "Get down." whispered Astrid.

The Nadder was close. But it didn't see them. Then Astrid took this as a chance and moved to another position. Hiccup tried to follow, but tripped. The dragon heard him. He nearly escaped the Nadder's teeth as he jumped up and ran for his life.

The dragon saw Astrid and Snotlout and got ready. "Watch out babe, I'll take care of this." Snotlout said arrogantly. "Hey!" said Astrid. Snotlout threw his weapon missing the Nadder almost completely. Astrid glared at him. "The _sun_ was in my _eyes_ Astrid! What do you want me to do? Block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" Snotlout said as they ran.

The dragon then began to knock down all of the walls angrily. "Has, has anyone ever seen one or, anything?" said Hiccup as the teens all pushed past him.

"Hiccup!" called Gobber.

The walls were falling. And one looked as though it was about to land on him! Hiccup was suddenly pushed out of the way. He didn't see who, but he saw the others standing there so it could have been anyone. Astrid had her axe ready and swung at the dragon. "Well done Astrid." said Gobber. Astrid then turned to Hiccup.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you? Our parent's war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on!" she said.

Later that night, he began walking through the opening in the stones to the Night Fury, shield first. He cautiously looked over his shield. He lifted the fish he had brought with him, and threw it over. He peeked out. Nothing. Okay, now was his chance. Although he didn't get far before his shield got stuck in between the rocks. Giving up on it coming loose, he went under the shield. He tried once more from that side, but nothing.

Hiccup looked at the fish. _"Did it have to be so slimy?"_ he thought. He sighed and picked it up. He looked around. Still no Night Fury. It couldn't have flown off with that tail. Walking around, he suddenly got the feeling someone was watching him. Hiccup turned around.

He gasped and gripped the fish. The Night Fury. Glaring at him suspiciously, but, it was there. It slowly came forward in a hunting position. It growled deeply. Hiccup held out the fish. The Night Fury slowly, cautiously, crawled closer. It looked as though it was about to take a bite- but it growled and stepped back. Hiccup jumped a bit and reached for his sword. The Night Fury's growl was a warning this time. Hiccup brought out his sword, and dropped it.

The Night Fury growled again. It watched as Hiccup picked up the sword with his foot and kicked it away. After a moment, the Night Fury was almost... astonished? According to the look on it's face. Once again, Hiccup held out the fish. More confidently, the Night Fury came closer, staring at the fish, open mouthed.

"Huh. Toothless. I could have sworn you had- wha!" Hiccup was interrupted by the Night Fury's retractable teeth coming out. It grabbed the fish and swallowed happily. "Teeth..." Hiccup finished quietly.

The dragon then looked at him. Expecting more. "Ah, uh, uh, I- I - no-no! No-" the Night Fury backed him up against a familiar rock. "I- I don't have anymore." he finally said.

The dragon stared at him for a moment as Hiccup closed his eyes. Then it- it- it... spit up the fish into Hiccup's lap. Well, half the fish. "Eeeeggch." said Hiccup.

The dragon then sat back. Expectantly. It just stared. After a while, it glanced down at the fish. Then looked back at him. Expectantly. Hiccup caught on. He sighed, disgusted. He brought the fish closer to his mouth. Hesitated, then- bit. "Hmm!" he tried to sound convincingly. The dragon looked a little more pleased. It's ears perked up. "Mm hm." said Hiccup, not daring to swallow. He held the fish more towards the dragon. But, it made a swallowing noise. "Mmh!" sighed Hiccup. He rolled his eyes for a moment. After nearly barfing, and managing to keep it down, he swallowed. The dragon licked it's lips. Then Hiccup smiled at it.

The Night Fury narrowed it's eyes, maybe in slight confusion as to what he was doing. After a moment, he tried to get his own mouth to mimic Hiccup's. A bit astonished himself, Hiccup slowly got up and reached out his hand. But the movement made the dragon cautious and it fled the scene. It went over behind some rocks. Hiccup saw it burn a circle in the ground before looking as though it were about to take a nap.

Without it actually noticing at first, Hiccup managed to sit down next to it. He watched it as it's eyes followed a bird fly through the air- and land on him. Hiccup waved slightly. He growled again. Then he moved so that his wings covered his face a bit.

Hiccup moved closer. Daring to touch it. But, the dragon sensed this and opened it's wings and growled once more. Hiccup smoothly instantly stood up stiff as a bone, and walked off.

A little later as the sun was going down, Hiccup began to draw a doodle of 'Toothless' as he had named the Night Fury. Toothless noticing him being far away, began to wonder what he was doing. He made his way over to Hiccup. Hiccup felt the dragon peer over his shoulder. Toothless' eyes followed Hiccup's stick as he finished drawing the dragon's face. Hiccup then heard Toothless' footsteps walking away from him. Then he heard a branch breaking. Curious, he turned around to see Toothless carrying a branch in his mouth. The end of it, dragging in the sand.

He then began to walk around with it. Once, he stopped, glanced at Hiccup, and made a dot. Then he was finished. Hiccup looked around at the squiggles. He got up and stepped on a line. Toothless growled. Hiccup looked at him and took his foot off. The growl became a kind of purr. Testing a theory, he stepped on the line again. Toothless growled again. He stepped off. The growl became a purr. Then he stepped over the line. Still a purr.

Hiccup smiled and then began looking at the drawing. He found his feet not trying to step on any of the lines. Backing up a bit, he felt Toothless behind him. He turned around to face him. He reached out his hand. Toothless growled cautiously a bit. It made Hiccup hesitate. But, hanging his head down, and closing his eyes, he reached out. Toothless hesitated himself then... let his nose touch his palm.

Hiccup looked up at Toothless in wonder and amazement.

Then Toothless opened his eyes and shook it's head a bit as if he smelled something bad and ran off again.

The teens and Gobber were having a sort of 'camp out' dinner on one of the boats. Gobber was telling the story of how he lost his hand to a dragon. Once he was finished, Fishlegs made a comment. A few of the teens gave him a weird look. "I swear I'm so _angry right now!_ I'll avenge your beautiful hand, and your beautiful foot! I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight! With my face." said Snotlout.

"Mm hm. No, it's the _wings_ and _tails_ you really want. If it can't fly. It can't get away. A downed dragon, is a _dead_ dragon." said Gobber. That made Hiccup think. Gobber yawned. "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys! Slowly, but surely, making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare!" he said. The teens got excited, well, except for Hiccup.

"But, who will win the honour, of killing?" asked Gobber.

As the teens argued about Tuffnut's tattoo, they didn't notice Hiccup leaving. He couldn't hear them anymore. He knew they were still talking, but thankfully, not about him. They hadn't noticed his escape.

He'd suddenly had a great idea for Toothless. He would make a sort of prosthetic tail. He instantly got to work once he got to the weaponry. Moulding, burning, shaping, thinking, and finally- creating. In no time, okay, in almost a full night, it was done. The prosthetic tail.

Hiccup folded the tail up and headed out to Toothless.

"Hey Tooooothlesss." he called. He spoke as his he had a birthday present or something. Which it might just be. Well, since when do they know when dragons are born unless they witnessed it? He also brought a barrel full of fish. A distraction. He walked up to Toothless who was indeed, curious. He set down the barrel and tipped it over. The slimy fish made a gross noise as they hit the ground. "Ugh. Okay, that's disgusting. Uh, we got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel." said Hiccup. Toothless growled and lowered it's head in disgust at the sound of 'eel'.

Hiccup noticed and picked it up. Toothless growled more in disgust and spread it's wings and made a face. "No! No, no, no, no, no! It's okay!" he said, tossing it aside farther away from them. "Yeah I don't really like eel much either." he finished, wiping his hand on his shirt.

Toothless then began to dig in. Hiccup began to step behind the dragon. "That's it. That's it, that's it. Just, uh, eh don't you mind me. I'll be back here...minding my own business. He bent down and lowered the tail towards Toothless' tail. Once the end touched the dragon's tale slightly, it moved farther away. Hiccup glanced up at Toothless who was still enjoying the fish.

It turned out to be more of a hassle than he thought. The dragon's tail kept moving! "Ah, uh, it's okay! It's- gh! Ah! Grah!" Hiccup said whilst trying to hold the tail steady. Suddenly, Toothless ducked his head into the barrel, causing him and his tail to move forward. Also knocking Hiccup slightly. "Ah!" he said in surprise.

Giving up on that approach, he then sat on Toothless' tail. He began to attach the prosthetic tail. Unbeknownst to Hiccup, Toothless noticed something being attached. He straightened up. With Hiccup still not noticing, he spread his wings.

Hiccup sat more up right feeling accomplished. "Hm. There. Alright, it's not that bad, it works- it- whoa! Whoa! Whoooooaaaaaah!" he screamed for his life as the dragon, without warning, took off! With Hiccup obviously still on his tail. The prosthetic tail folded up and they began to fall, but Hiccup spread it out. They flew straight upwards! "Oh my- it's working! It's working!" shouted Hiccup with joy.

Toothless did a quick dive and skimmed the top of the ocean for a bit. They flew over the lake in the cavern. "Yes. Yes! I did it!" screamed Hiccup. Toothless looked back and finally noticed him on his tail. Deciding he didn't need a rider, he flung Hiccup off into the lake. Feeling the tail fold up, he roared in frustration realising that he might actually need... ugh, a _rider_. He then fell into the lake himself.

"Yyyeaaah!" cheered Hiccup.

The next day, they were all back at the ring. "Today, is about teamwork! Now, a wet dragon head, can't light it's fire. The hideous Zippleback, is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head, lights. Your job is to know which is which." Gobber explained as the dragon had entered the arena, spreading dirt and smoke every which way blinding them. "Razor sharp serrated teeth, that injects venom, for predigestion. For it's ambush attack, shoots victims-" Fishlegs started whispering.

"Will you _please stop that_?" whispered Hiccup.

After a while, it wasn't long before some of the other teens were out.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..." Fishlegs whispered nervously. One of the heads appeared out of the smoke and swerved over to him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Whoa- ha!" he threw his bucket of water at the beast. It did nothing, but the head drew up... gas. "Oh heh. Wrong head." said Fishlegs. The dragon spewed it's gas and Fishlegs ran screaming. "Fishlegs!" screamed Gobber.

Hiccup was the only one left with water. Great. Of course it would be him. Just then, the other head, the flame one, appeared. It was getting ready to spark. "Now Hiccup!" called Gobber. Hiccup threw the water, but the water lamely didn't get far. "Oh come on." sighed Hiccup. The fire head began threatening him. Hiccup dropped the bucket and stumbled backwards as it came forwards. "Hiccup!" called Gobber.

But, to Gobber's amazement, Hiccup slowly stood up and the dragon backed down! "Back, back! Back... now-now don't you make me tell you again! Yes that's right! Back, into your cage! Now think about what you've done." Hiccup said, mainly so everyone could hear. The dragon backed into it's cage. It could smell it. Hiccup knew it would work. Luckily his theory so far was correct. Not too many dragons liked eel. If any actually _did._

He slowly, removed the eel off of his shoulder, but had it hidden from the others. He tossed it in the cage just before he closed the doors. Hiccup wiped his hands on his shirt as he turned to face the group. No one said anything. But, needless to say- their faces were _priceless!_ "Okay! So, are we done? Cause I've got some things I need to...uh... yep! I'll see- see ya tomorrow!" Hiccup called as he ran out of there.

Hiccup had just had another great idea. A saddle! Once he made it, he went straight to Toothless. It took a while to get it on him though. Hiccup wasn't sure if he was just playing, or if he really wasn't sure about the saddle. But, after a while, he was on him.

The eel, grass, which he called "Dragon-nip", and apparently scratching. Just as one would with a farm animal. Dragons too seemed to like it. Well, Toothless did anyways. Once Hiccup had hit a certain spot under it's neck, the dragon was practically down. Same with the Deadly Nadder in the arena. Thankfully too because Astrid was ready and it seemed as though she was getting fed up with losing the dragon to him.

Hiccup made some newer arrangements with it, and tried it again. This time, the rope accidentally snapped making them fly backwards. "Whooa!" cried Hiccup. Suddenly, he found himself getting lifted awkwardly from the ground by his side. His shirt had gotten tangled with the saddle, which had gotten tangled with the rope. "Oh great." he sighed. This would take some time.

"Hiccup." said a Viking as he walked past him standing in front of a doorway. _"Phew. Not obvious that I'm hiding a Night Fury."_ he thought. In the weaponry, he and Toothless carefully, okay, _tried_ to carefully walk through to what he needed. They accidentally crashed into a few things. Then he heard a knock on the door.

"Hiccup, are you in there?" he heard Astrid ask. _"Oh man. Astrid. Why you?!"_ he thought. He didn't have much time for a plan, so he just hid Toothless behind the door like before. "Astrid! Uh, hi. Uh- hey! Hi Astrid...what uh-"

"I normally don't care what people do. But you're acting weird!" said Astrid. Hiccup suddenly jolted back a bit. Then laughed awkwardly. "Well. Weirder." she finished.

Hiccup seemed as though he was trying not to get pulled back. Then he did. Astrid darted forward, but lost them. _Again!_

After an awkward sort of friendly talk with his father, Hiccup didn't feel any better about his situation.

Back in the ring, it was just him and Astrid left in the contest. Hiccup was hiding behind a short wall. Astrid came along. "Stay out of my way. I'm winning this thing!" she said angrily.

"Good. Please, by all means." Hiccup said as she left.

Hiccup stood up and looked at his father. He gave a fake smile to him. Astrid moved like a cat and hid behind a wall. "This time. This time for sure!" she told herself.

She screamed a battle call and jumped over a couple walls. Only to find the dragon down. Hiccup looking weird, and he gestured to the dragon. "NO! No! Son of a half troll!" she screamed as she said other, colourful things.

"Wait, wait." shouted Stoik in order to calm the cheering crowd. Hiccup started to leave. "So, later." he said. But Gobber stopped him. "Oh, oh. Not so fast." he said and lifted Hiccup back a step.

"Uh, I'm kinda late for-whoa!"

"What?! Late for what exactly!" said Astrid. She had her weapon under Hiccup's chin. She looked ready to kill. "Okay quiet down! The elder has decided." said Stoik. The teens, and Gobber looked up to see the elder woman looking down upon them. Gobber stood a bit behind, but in between them. He raised his hooked hand over Astrid. The elder shook her head 'no'. There were numerous 'oooooh's in the crowd. Gobber raised his other hand above Hiccup and pointed down. The elder pointed as she nodded her head and smiled. The crowd went wild!

"Oh you've done it! You've done it Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!" Gobber said excitedly. Hiccup wasn't sure if he should be more afraid of that, or of Astrid who looked as though she could kill at any moment. Although, that glare could just be used as a weapon itself.

The other teens all gathered around Hiccup. Then he found himself being lifted onto Fishlegs' shoulder, him being the tallest, and strongest and all. He let out a fake laugh and smile. Oh the gods sure do hate him. He was clear of that now.

"That's my boy!" shouted Stoik above the crowd.

"Yeah, yeah! Yes! I can't wait! I am sooo-"

**Wishful Thinking**

In a tower, hidden by dense forest and vines, a small chameleon was searching for a place to hide. This chameleon was named Pascal. He scampered across a very high window sil, and hid behind a flower pot, changing colour to blend in. He smiled at his find. Suddenly, his friend who had been playing with him burst open the windows. "Ha!" she said. This eighteen year old, was named Rapunzel.

"Hm. Well, I guess Pascal's not hiding out here..." Rapunzel said playfully. Pascal heard this, and laughed. She couldn't find him! Ha! Suddenly, he felt something grab his tail! Soon afterwards, he was lifted into the air and turned to face the girl. He shrieked a little and was wide eyed. Rapunzel had grabbed him with her incredibly long golden hair. "Gotcha!" she said excitedly. After a moment, she put him down on the sil. "That's twenty-two for me. How about twenty-three, out of forty-five?" she asked him. Pascal gave her a look that said: 'Come on, no way.' Rapunzel sighed. "Okay. Well, what do you want to do?" she asked. She sat down on the sil. Pascal turned to face the outside world, while still looking at her, and pointed his tail towards it.

"Yeah. I don't think so. I like it in here, and so do you." she said while pointing. Pascal had a total dead panned look on his face as he stuck out his tongue at her. "Oh come on Pascal, it's not so bad in there." Rapunzel sighed. _"Seven A.M., the usual morning line-up. Start on the chores, and sweep 'til the floor's all clean. Polish and wax, do laundry and mop and shine up. Sweep again. And by then, it's, like, seven-fifteen. And so I'll read a book. Or maybe two or three. I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery. I'll play guitar and knit and cook, and basically. Just wonder, when will my life begin? Then, after lunch, it's puzzles, and darts and baking. Paper-maché, a bit of ballet, and chess. Pottery and ventriloquy, candle-making. Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch, take a climb, sew a dress! And I'll re-read the books. If I have time to spare. I'll paint the wall some more. I'm sure there's room somewhere. And then I'll brush, and brush, and brush, and brush my hair. Stuck in the same place I've always been! And I'll keep wondering, and wondering, and wondering, and wondering- When will my life begin?" _

"_And tomorrow night, the lights will appear! Just like they do on my birthday each year." _Rapunzel turned around and stared at a murale of the floating lights. "_What is it like? Out there where they glow. Now that I'm older, mother might just... let me go."_ she finished singing. She sighed once more as she finished the murale.

**A/N**: Sorry Rapunzel's part is so much shorter than the HTTYD part. I just had to plan it that way. It'll get interesting, you'll see! :)

R & R please


	3. The First Believers

**A/N**: Like I said last time, this chapter is more interesting. Enjoy!

**Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons Chapter Three: The First Believers**

The next morning, Jamie woke up earlier than usual. It wasn't that he just couldn't sleep anymore. He'd planned this. His plan was to go to the library and try to find information on Jack Frost. He woke up earlier so that his mother wouldn't talk him out of it in any way. He also did it to avoid having Sophie's chores tossed on to him. Like usual. Nope, that wasn't going to happen today. It was Sophie's turn anyways. He had the day off. That's why he had to escape. Not that they were hard chores, his sister _was_ only two-years-old after all. But his chores were much harder. Once he was done those, he usually just wanted to sit back and relax. Or have a snowball fight. But noooo, if Sophie wasn't in the mood to do things, _he'd_ have to do them. This happened _very_ often. Almost as if she planned which days she didn't want to do things...

Jamie blinked his eyes open and slowly sat up. He sure wasn't use to getting up early, but it had to be done if he wanted to go to the library. Plus...he wasn't sure if he wanted everyone to know that he was looking up stuff about Jack Frost. The librarian could know, only because he has this thing called "Librarian Customer Confidentiality" or something. There was a large sign behind his desk. What ever the customer bought, or borrowed, he'd keep it to himself unless the customer said otherwise. To Jamie, it was a good deal. Especially for today.

For reasons that weren't really clear to him, Jamie's friends just wouldn't step into the library. Claud and Caleb had once said that the old man creeped them out. That he was possibly a wizard. The others had agreed with them. Jamie had pointed out that if they used the word "probably" it meant that it was not defined. Therefore, it might not be true at all. They just shrugged that off of course, sticking to their conclusion.

Mr. Olivardo was the librarian's name. He was old, although, no one knew just how old. Some believed that he was around in the dark ages that happened over a hundred years ago. He always had a mysterious personality. Even if you had gotten to know him. Jamie still can't quite figure him out no matter how hard he tried. He could never read his expressions unless he was showing happiness. He didn't look that mysterious...only in his eyes. You could see plenty of wisdom and experience in them.

He had an oval shaped head, and wore glasses with a chain attached to them around his neck. His grey hair was almost gone and he had a large nose in which his glasses sat on most of the time. Jamie hardly ever saw him without them. The man's ears were also sticking out a bit. Those gave him a humorous look to him when he was joking around. He looked rather normal, but right after his first words to you, you could tell he was mysterious. It was in the way he spoke. Jamie liked that about him. It was like he was one big mystery. Which, he actually could be...

Jamie grabbed a piece of fruit for the road, and left a short note about where he was and such. He stepped outside and closed the door. He paused. He opened the door again, and grabbed his toque. He didn't really want to wear it, but his mother would nag him about it. If he got cold enough, he'd put it on. But in truth, he love the cold days. Jamie had no idea why, but he just did. He loved the way everything looked in the winter. Especially when it frosted over. The trees would sparkle like the icicles. Frost.

Jamie picked up his pace. He at least wanted to know _where_ that saying came from. His mother either didn't truly know, or just wanted him to keep reading. His stomach grumbled. Reached into his pocket and took out the apple he'd grabbed and took a bite.

After about five more minutes, he reached the library. He looked in the window since he didn't see a sign, but he saw the librarian working at his desk. He decided to try the doors, and he pushed them open. The old man looked up at the sound of the chime. "Ah, if it isn't young Jamie Bennet. You're up early. What brings you here at this hour?" he asked in his old scratchy voice.

Jamie smiled shyly. "Uh, well...technically Mr. Olivardo I'm trying to avoid the risk of having to do my sister's chores." he explained. Mr. Olivardo laughed. "Kids these days." Jamie smiled. He liked the man even if his friends thought he was creepy. They just didn't know him like he did. "Actually, I'm also here because I wanted to look up information on Jack Frost." said Jamie. Mr. Olivardo smiled in thought. "Ah...Jack Frost you say." he said.

He slowly stood up and walked over to a small cabinet and unlocked it. Jamie looked at him curiously. Then sighed silently. Mr. Olivardo's expression was once again, blank. He had no clue as to what he was thinking. "Ah, here we are." said Mr. Olivardo. He pulled out a rather large book with a hard cover. Jamie's curiosity grew. That book looked like it was a thousand pages! He'd never seen a book that big! "I believe this, is the book you are looking for." said Mr. Olivardo. He showed Jamie the cover. "It...it's blank..." said Jamie. It was blank. The cover itself was old looking, flat, and white.

"Indeed it is." said Mr. Olivardo. Jamie looked up at him. Nope. His expression was still blank. "This should keep you busy-" Suddenly the doors burst open and a gust of cold, snowy wind blew through. Jamie shivered and rubbed his arms warm again. He liked the cold, but he hated the shivering reaction from the different temperatures. "Oh dear, I suppose it's those hinge's again. I should write to Mr. Mills and have him come fix them for me. I'm not too steady with the tools these days." he said. Jamie looked at him. "Nor am I that tall." Mr. Olivardo laughed. Jamie smiled and laughed with him. "I wish I could help you. But I'm not that tall either." he said.

"Oh you will be, you're much like your father you know." said Mr. Olivardo. Jamie gave a sad smile and looked down. It's been seven years since his father...passed on. Jamie was three. Mr. Olivardo put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up. He still hadn't really gotten over it. The most he's ever done, is try and forget about it when he was with others. So that it didn't spoil the fun. His father had been like his best friend. Until he made other friends that is. But they still had fun together. He still didn't know what truly happened to him. Just that he'd died while on a journey to Berk, their sister town. He didn't know him, nor could he picture him, but it still hurt.

Burgess and those Vikings were pretty close and friendly to each other. Even though Jamie himself, has never met one.

Mr. Olivardo put the book on the desk and walked away. Jamie opened up the cover to the first page. "Written for...hey Mr. Olivardo, who's the True bleiev..." he trailed off as he looked up to see that he had left. He must have gone to the post office. "Er..." Jamie finished. He shrugged and turned back to the book. He closed it and placed both hands around the edges.

He struggled in trying to lift it up and slid it off of the desk. However, that didn't exactly go well. That book was just too darn heavy for him. He almost fell forwards, but he caught himself...but he then fell right onto his back. The book was implanting down on him. In fact, it was getting harder to breathe.

"Oh that went well." he sighed. Well, tried to sigh anyways. The book was really pushing down on him. Jamie tried to push himself up. No luck. Suddenly he heard laughing. Oh boy. Just what he needed. He looked to his left to see Cupcake. Jamie stared at her, then glanced at the book. "U-um...h-help? P-please?" he wheezed. The book was cutting off his circulation. Cupcake rolled her eyes and walked over to him and with a _lot_ of effort, (hey, it was an incredibly heavy book, even for her,) eventually helped him back to his feet.

From a tall near by book shelf, the same person Jamie was curious about, watched them with interest. "I told you- you shouldn't have tried to lift that. But did you listen? NOOO, you can't even see me!" he huffed. It was frustrating sometimes. He turned his attention back to the kids as Jamie gasped for air. "Th-thank you." he said in between breaths.

"What ever. So, why would you need a book _this_ big anyways?" she asked. "I mean, I get that you like to read and all but..." Jamie paused his breathing and glanced at the book. "To look me up." Jack said plainly. For a moment he thought he saw Jamie blush but it could have been the lighting. "Um...it-it's stupid really...I..." he glanced up at Cupcake who just stared at him. He took a deep breath. "I...wanted to look up Jack Frost..." he said shyly as he rubbed the back of his neck. Jack's eyes narrowed just a bit.

"Now why would_ that_ be stupid?" he said.

"I guess I can see why _you_ would be interested. I mean, you're...well, _you_." she said. Jamie just stared. He didn't know how to respond. Nor did he know if that was a compliment or not. "No one really who's who Jack is anyways." said Cupcake. Jamie looked as though he was going to say something, but didn't. Cupcake looked at the book and opened the cover page. She looked at it curiously. "Huh...wonder who the True Believer is." she glanced at Jamie who shrugged.

"I don't know. Mr. Olivardo left before I could even ask." he said. She gave him a look. "So that's his name? That old man?" she asked. Jamie nodded. "Yeah, and he's not nearly as creepy as Claud says he is. He's just...mysterious. Like he's one big mystery that will never be solved." he said. With that, he turned to the next page. "Huh. Blank." he said.

"Why would it be blank? That's kind of stupid..." said Cupcake. She turned some more pages. Blank. "There's no publish date, or even the author's name either... weird..." said Jamie.

"What? They can't be serious. It's not blank. There's loads of info in there! How can you _not_ see that?" said Jack. Why couldn't they see it? He jumped down from his shelf and stood in front of the kids, and behind the desk. "Maybe..." Jamie started. He trailed off in though as he flipped back to the first page. True Believer... "Maybe we have to be able to believe in him in order to read..." he said slowly, still in deep thought. A spark of an idea made itself known in Jack's eyes. He smiled mischievously. "Oh ho-oh. I know how to get you to believe." he said, still smiling.

He held his right hand in the air, and started to form a snowball. He flew in behind Jamie- and threw.

Jamie stumbled forwards for a bit after getting pelted. Then suddenly he jolted back. "Ah! Cold! Cold! Cold- Cold!" he shouted. A lot of the cold snow had gone down his back by accident. He'd been so warm for the past hour, that it had been quite the shock. Jamie flailed about trying to get it out. He stumbled backwards and into the bookshelf. A few books fell down from up top and onto Jamie. Cupcake gave him a weird look.

"Are... you... okay?" she asked. She seemed a little creeped out. Jack swore he saw Jamie blush again.

"Huh?" said Jamie. His blushing had caught him off guard as well as the sudden snow down his back. He realised that he really only blushed if he'd embarrassed himself in front of others. He shot up and brushed himself off. "O-oh. Yeah, yeah, I-I'm fine yeah." he said. He mentally slapped himself for saying it too quickly. That only embarrassed him more, and his blush grew.

Jack chuckled a bit. Although he did feel bad that the kid felt awkward. He only tried to get him to believe, not to get him feeling embarrassed. "Heh, whoops..." Jack said. He also didn't mean for Jamie to slam into that bookshelf. He sighed. Every time he just wanted to have a little fun, things either went wrong, or the kids were reminded of some other famous character. But he supposed that it was partially because no one really knew who he was. That gave him _some_ hope. Like, maybe if he had his story told, he'd be seen.

Lucky for Jamie, Cupcake didn't point out how red his face had gotten. She just gave him a questioning slash curious...slash weird look. "Jamie Bennet you sure are strange..." she said. However, Jamie's blush only deepened anyhow. There was also the fact that he didn't know how to respond to that. He blinked a couple of times, but said nothing. She smiled and rolled her eyes. "But... strange can be fun." she said. Jamie let out a breath he really hadn't realised he'd been holding. He smiled. "T-Thanks..." he'd managed to say. Only, he didn't know if he meant for it to sound like a question. The two walked back over to the book.

"That's it? Nothing like "gee, where on Earth did that snowball come from?" Hm..." said Jack. He formed another snowball. This time he flew down in front of Jamie. He blew on it giving it a light blue colour, and some magic. This time, he threw it, not hard mind you, at his face. It exploded and most, if not all of it went down Jamie's shirt...again. "Aw man." said Jack. He really did try not to do that this time.

"Ah!" exclaimed Jamie. He tried to get the snow out of his shirt. Cupcake looked around the area. "Snowballs...inside? Ugh. Libraries are always weird." she said. Jack sighed. "Finally!" he said. He nearly fell back when Jamie...looked right at him. He stopped shaking his shirt from the snow and his mouth fell open. "J-Jack Frost..." he said quietly. Cupcake looked at him. Then she looked to see what he was staring at. Sorry, make that _who_ he was staring at. Her mouth fell open as well.

"That's my name don't ware it out- wait." he said. Jamie and Cupcake glanced at each other, expression not changing whatsoever. "Uh huh..." was all that Jamie could say. Jack paused and looked at him. "You...you hear me?" he said. The two kids nodded, with their mouths still gapped. "You...you _see me_?" he awed.

They nodded again.

_Again!_

They saw him! They actually saw him! "Y-ou- you see me! Ha! You actually see me! One hundred years and someone finally sees me! Yes!" Jack couldn't control his excitement. It just felt so...amazing! To finally be believed in! "To think, just yesterday you walked right through me..." said Jack, more calmly. Jamie blinked out of his faze. He walked right through him? Just like that? Suddenly Jack laughed.

"Oh yeah, that snowball earlier? That was me..." he admitted. Jamie's face turned slightly red. "It was?" laughed Cupcake. Jack nodded. "Yeah, oh, and remember yesterday when you slid through town?" he asked them. They gasped. "That was you!" said Jamie, more excitedly this time. "You knocked out my tooth!"

"That part wasn't actually planned...but yeah. I guess." said Jack. Then Cupcake gasped. She grabbed Jamie's shoulders. "Jamie! Do you realise that we're the first people _ever _to see Jack Frost!" she exclaimed. Jamie's face lit up. He realised something else as well. "Believe...The book!" he said. They looked at it. Jack became confused.

Jamie's face lit up, while Cupcake's face lost it's fascination. "I see-" Jamie stopped when he saw her face. "What?" he asked.

"Jamie, there's nothing there." she said. Jamie frowned. "I can't see it." she finished.

"Huh. That's weird. I see it." said Jack.

"Maybe because it's about you. Oh, well, most of it anyways. There's some stuff about the others in here also. Like Santa Clause, and the Toothfarie, and such." said Jamie. Jack peered over the book. Not that he could read upside down, but he did see pictures of the other's.

Suddenly, a weird feeling came over Jack. "Hold on. Something's not quite right." he said. The two kids looked at him oddly. "What?" said Jamie. Jack glanced at the doors. "Stay here. I'll be back." he said. With that, he left the library and headed outside.

Jamie and Cupcake looked at each other. Cupcake smiled. "Follow him?" It was Jamie's turn to smile. "You read my mind." he said. The two dashed out the door.

They saw Jack fly down the main street and into a back ally. They followed quietly. Jack stood on guard with his staff ready. He searched for anything out of the ordinary. "Hello mate." said an Australian accent. Jack turned sharply to see a strange shadow appear. Jamie and Cupcake's eyes widened when they saw who it was.

The figure fiddled with a boomerang. "It's been a long time." he said. "Corona, back in their happy days, I believe. Easter Sunday wasn't it?" the figure stepped out. That figure being a six footish (**A/N**: yes, I know that's not a word) tall rabbit. Otherwise known as E. Aster Bunny. Or the Easter Bunny. The two kids stepped closer behind Jack, but Bunny didn't notice.

Jamie could feel some tense issues between Jack and Bunny. He glanced at Cupcake who shrugged.

Jack loosened up. "Bunny! You're not still mad about _that_, are ya?" he said. He leaned on his staff. Bunny's eyes narrowed, and his ears folded back. "Yes." he paused. "But this is about something else." another pause. "Fellas."

Suddenly Jack was lifted up by a...what? Jamie gasped as he was soon lifted up as well. He didn't even have time to call for help. He was placed into, what was it a bag? He couldn't see, or hear anything for that matter. It wasn't a great feeling. He did however hear Jack shout loudly for the creatures to put him down. But then he heard him also getting placed in a bag.

He couldn't help but scream as he felt himself getting thrown into something unknown. It was an incredibly weird feeling. Even weirder when he couldn't see anything. But, not long after, he slammed against what he guessed was ground. Or a floor of some kind. He heard muffled voices of confusion. "Bunny, why are there _three_ bags when I specifically asked for just Jack?" asked a very thick Russian accent. Did he dare peek out of his bag? He suddenly felt very safe in it. What the heck had just happened?

"Wow...you gotta be kidding me..." he heard Jack say. "Hey, put me down, easy!" That made Jamie hesitant to peek out. Were they even safe? They had technically just been kidnapped for crying out loud!

"Hey, Jamie, get out! You'll never believe where we are!" came Cupcakes voice. Phew. At least it sounded as though they were in a safe place.

Jack turned around. Yep. To his right, stood Cupcake awing at everything. _"Oh man..."_ he thought. That was _not_ part of his plan. Not that he actually had one. To his left? Jamie slowly poked through the bag. His eyes widened as far as they could go and his mouth fell open a bit. He found that he couldn't move. "Well Jack, it seems as though you've frozen your first believer." joked Bunny. North looked at him. "What? Ha-ha! Jack you've done it! Congratulations!" he said happily. Jack turned back to them and smiled. "Um, thanks. Just so you know, it wasn't _my_ idea that they come here though..." he said. North looked at Bunny again.

"Wh- don't blame me mate, it was those yeti's that bagged them up!" he said defensively. Jamie gasped. Did he hear right? Yeti's? Actual yeti's! Like, bigfoot, but different!

Jamie just couldn't believe it. He, Jamie Bennet, was on his knees in Santa's workshop. How could he tell? He's read all about it of course. Plus, you know, Santa himself was standing right in front of him. Cupcake waved a hand in front of his face. "Ha, nice one. You broke your guy's biggest fan." she laughed. Jamie didn't know why, but he just couldn't move. It was like, if he did, everything would fall apart or something. He just stared at the guardians and Jack who had turned back around. "Oh boy...oh, hang on. I think I can fix this." He smiled. Mischievously.

He held out his hand and started to form a snowball. Jamie blinked and realised what he was doing. Jamie waved his hands about. "What- uh, no! No. I-I'm, fine! Really!" he said, a little too quickly. Jack looked at him as his snowball disintegrated. Bunny and Sandy glanced at each other. Sandy shrugged. "You said it Sandy." said Bunny. He added in a chuckle at the end. Jamie lowered his arms and gave them a confused look. "Well ya big snowman you sure picked a strange one to be your first believer mate." said Bunny.

Jamie's face became dead panned. Cupcake laughed. As did Jack. Even Tooth was finding it hard to contain her chuckles. "Oh, uh, not that there's anything wrong with that!" she interjected. North joined in. "Exactly! Strange is fun!" he said. Jamie smiled. But so did Jack. "Well... that and the fact that he probably doesn't want any more snow down his shirt." he said. Jamie blushed again and his smile disappeared. Tooth looked at Jack. "That was a complete accident though!" he defended. "I just meant to hit him with the snowball, that's all!" Tooth gave him a look. "Honest." he said.

"Well, now that that's settled. On to business. So, I hope the yeti's treated you well." said North. Jack glanced at them. "Oh, yeah. I love being shoved in a sack and being tossed into a magic portal." he said. North obviously missed the sarcasm. "Oh. Good. That was my idea. However it was not my idea to bring along the children." he said looking at the yeti's. They made some noises that Jamie and Cupcake couldn't understand. "We'll talk later. You know Bunny obviously." he said.

"Mm hm." mumbled Bunny.

"Obviously." Jack said quietly.

"And the Toothfairy."

"Hello Jack!" she said. She flew up to him. "I've heard a lot about you- and your teeth!" Jack was taken aback. "My, my what?" he said.

"Open up!" said the fairy. "Are they really as white as they say? Oh yes!" she said excitedly. Jack tried to speak, but only weird noises came out as the fairy was looking inside his mouth. Then she gasped again. "Oh! They really do sparkle like freshly fallen snow!" Her little mini fairies swooned a bit. "Girls, come on, keep it together. Let's not disgrace the uniform." said Tooth.

"And the Sandman. Sandy." said North. He gestured to the little gold man standing beside him. Um, make that sleeping, beside him. "Sandy. Sandy? Wake up!" said North. Sandy jolted awake.

"Oh, hey, anyone want to tell me why I'm here?" asked Jack. Jamie and Cupcake glanced at each other as Sandy raised his hand. Then fast moving images crawled across the space above his head. "Um, th-that's not really helping. But thanks little man." said Jack. "I must have done something really bad to get you four together. Oh, am I on the naughty list?"

North laughed. "Ha, _on_ naughty list? You hold record. But, no matter, we over look. Now we are wiping to clean plate." he said.

"How come?" said Jack.

"A Good question." said Bunny. He gave Jack a glare as Jack gave him one. "How come? I tell you how come! Because now, you are guardian!" said North. Jack stared at him. What? Him?

Suddenly, the elves started playing instruments, and the yeti's twirled fiery batons around themselves. Jack was becoming overwhelmed. He glanced down at a little elf who was tugging at his pants. He pointed to Jack's feet, then at some- _ridiculous_ looking shoes. Jack shook his head. As things continued, Jack continued to get annoyed. His hand tightened around his staff. He began to lift it. He saw North's expression change as he slammed the end into the floor. Cold air blew from it. Jamie shivered from the blast.

"What makes you think I want to be a guardian?" asked Jack. Jamie and Cupcake glanced at each other. Then North started laughing. "Of course you do...MUSIC!" he said. The elves started playing unsure this time. "No music!" Jack said sternly. One of the elves dropped down his instrument and pushed past the other elf and stalked off in a huff. "This is all very flattering, but uh, you don't want me. You're all, hard work, and deadlines, and I'm... snowballs and fun times." said Jack as he sat down on a desk. "I'm not a guardian."

Bunny laughed. "Yeah, yeah. That's exactly what I said!" he said. He playfully punched North in the arm. "Jack," said Tooth, "I don't think you understand what it is we do." she flew up to a gigantic globe.

"How did we miss that?" Jamie whispered to Cupcake, who shrugged.

"Each of those lights, is a child." said Tooth.

"A child, who believes. And good or bad, naughty, or nice, we protect them." said North.

Jamie looked up at the large man in awe. _He_ was one of those lights. Suddenly weird noises from Jack caught his attention. "Tooth! Fingers out of mouth." said North. Tooth was looking at Jack's teeth again. She pulled back. "Oh, sorry! There beautiful!" she said.

"Alright, no more wishy washy, Pitch is out there doing who knows what!" said North. Jack looked at him. "You mean the-the boogey man?" he chuckled.

"Yes! When Pitch threatens us, he threatens them as well." said North.

"All the more reason to pick someone more qualified!" said Jack.

"Pick. You think _we_ pick? No. You were chosen. Like we were all chosen. By Man in Moon." said North. Jack stopped. He turned around. "What?" he said.

"Last night Jack. He chose you." said Tooth.

"Maybe." said Bunny.

Jack looked at the moon. "Man in Moon um...he talks to you." he said.

"You see you cannot say no. It is destiny." said North.

"Why, why wouldn't he tell me that himself..." Jack said, his eyes never leaving the moon.

Jack rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed. "After one hundred years, this is his answer. To spend an eternity, like you guys, cooped up in some, some, cage thinking of, of new ways to bribe kids? No, no. That's not for me! No offense." he said.

"How, how, how is that not offensive? You know what I think, I think we just dodged a bullet. I mean, what's this clown know about bringing joy to children anyway?" said Bunny. Jamie's eyes narrowed and he stood up. Jack spoke before he could. "Uh, you ever hear of a snow day? I know it's no, hard boiled egg, but kids like what I do." said Jack. Jamie wasn't sure if he should say anything. Things looked like they were about to get hairy. "But none of them believe in you. Do they? You see, you're invisible mate. It's like you don't even exist." said Bunny. Screw it. Jamie's saying something!

"Bunny, you are WAY to hung up on the past." said Jamie. Said Guardian's ears rose at his voice. They all had completely forgotten they were there. He looked at Jamie, as did the other guardians and Jack. Jack smirked at Bunny. "Jamie's right Bunny. That's enough." Tooth said sternly, yet calmly. "No, no, the kangaroo does have a point." said Jack. Bunny looked at him. "The-the _what_? What did you call me? I'm _not_ a kangaroo mate." said Bunny.

"Oh, and this whole time I thought you were. If you're not a kangaroo, what are you!" said Jack. The two of them stood inches away from each other. "I'm a bunny. The _Easter Bunny._ "People believe in me." said Bunny.

Jamie glanced at Cupcake. Then he glared at Bunny. "Don't tell me you're deaf and blind!" shouted Jamie. His volume startled everyone, including him and Cupcake. He glanced at her unsure of what to say next. Sandy patted North on the leg and gestured for him to step up.

"Jack. Walk with me." said North.

Jamie watched as North led Jack out of the room. He then turned to Bunny. "What the heck is your problem!" he demanded.

"Jamie-" said Tooth.

"_My_ problem? You should be asking him that mate! Brewing up bloody blizzards like there's no tomorrow!"

"Bunny-"

"And, and how could you even say that he doesn't have any believers, when _we _believe in him!"

"Jamie-"

"Look, I temporarily-"

"Bunny-"

"Don't you have any fun?" Jamie asked more quietly. "I mean, you're the _Easter Bunny_..."

"Look! We all just need to calm down!" Tooth finally managed to say. She flew in between the two and separated them farther away. She took a deep breath. Jamie glanced at her, then glared at Bunny who was taken aback. Jamie stepped back and sat down at a table on one side of the room. Bunny's ears flopped downwards, and he sat on the opposite side of the room. Tooth sighed and looked at Sandy for help. He thought. Then he got an idea. He gestured that he'd cheer up the kids, while she cheered up Bunny. She nodded and they went to work.

Jamie sighed. A couple of elves trotted over and offered him cookies. He didn't say anything and shook his head "no thanks." Sandy watched as the elves greedy little faces lit up with joy. They instantly scurried away to Manny knows where. Sandy shook his head at them. He walked up to Jamie and Cupcake, who had joined him. Jamie gave a small smile.

Sandy thought a moment. Now how would he be able to...ah ha! Jamie glanced up to see Sandy making hand gestures and a whole bunch of images fly around above his head. "Uh..." he said. He had no idea what Sandy was saying. All he caught was a glimpse of what he thought was the sun. That was it. "Um-" he squinted his eyes in thought. Sandy paused , and looked at him. He huffed realising that he couldn't understand what he was saying. He started again, going a little slower.

"I-I'm sorry, I just don't, um-"

"Ugh, idiot, he's saying you should look at the bright side of things. Like how you're in _Santa's workshop_." Cupcake suddenly said. Jamie looked at her in shock, and Sandy smiled. Jamie glanced at him as he nodded his head excitedly. Jamie looked back at Cupcake. "You...you understood that?" he asked. Although, it sounded more like a statement. She just smirked. Jamie just stared at her in amazement.

Sandy then made a gesture that he was breaking something, and the image of Jamie appeared above his head and it broke in two. Cupcake laughed.

Jamie blinked and smirked. "I'm not broken...I'm just...im-impressed. Is all..." he said. Cupcake and Sandy smirked at each other. "You're easily impressed." laughed Cupcake. Jamie glanced away as a small blush crept onto his face. He really wished he didn't get embarrassed so easily. But a question remained in his head. Why recently, and not before? He was still the same person. Right?

Suddenly the sound of Jacks voice caught their attention. "I said it before and I'll say it again, I am no guardian!" he said. Jamie stood up as North burst open the doors. North turned Jack around to face him. "Jack. Man in Moon says you are- so you are. None of us can help that. You just have to accept that-"

The sound of ringing grabbed everyone's attention. They all turned to stare at Sandy. He gestured to the sky as he dropped an elf, then gestured to Jamie and Cupcake. The sky had gotten darker. "Oh! Sandy's right kids. You should get going. You don't want parents worrying!" said Tooth. Jamie sighed. "Aw man." he said.

"We were just getting into things!" sighed Cupcake. North laughed. "Tell you what. I have new idea!" he said. Jack's eyes widened. "Oh boy..." he said. If it was anything like North's first idea- remember the sacks? Then things would surely get interesting.

Suddenly Jack was lifted up by North. "Hey, hey! Put me down!" he liked being in the air, but on his _own_ terms! "I said I wasn't going with you guys!"

"Get the sled!" said North. He still wouldn't loosen his grip on Jack's hoodie. "I am _not_ getting into some, rickety old..." Jack trailed off. What he saw next, had to be the coolest thing in the world. Oh, no pun intended. "Sleigh..."

The two kid's eyes widened as far as they could go. About four reindeer, yes, reindeer, trotted out of two doors as the yeti's guided them. Jack laughed as North calmed one down. All the kids could do was stare in awe. Then the sleigh appeared. It had to be the best thing Jamie had ever seen...and _he_ would get to ride it! If he wasn't stiff in amazement, he'd so be freaking out.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Okay, one ride. But that's it." said Jack. He hopped onto the sleigh. North got on next. "Everyone loves the sleigh." he said. "Bunny, help the kids. We're taking them home!" Bunny did as he was told. He grabbed Jamie and jumped onto the sleigh and sat him down next to Jack. Then he did the same with Cupcake who sat next to Jamie. But then he hopped off. "Bunny." said North. Finally Jamie and Cupcake snapped out of it and looked at the rabbit. "What are you waiting for?" North finished.

"I think my tunnels faster mate...and, um, and safer." he was about to get ready, when North grabbed him.

"Buckle up!" said North. Bunny looked about. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are the bloody seat belts!" he said. Jamie and Cupcake glanced at each other. This was _actually_ happening. "Ha! That was just expression! Are we ready!" said North. The yeti next to him outside of the sleigh started saying something. "Let's go!"

**A/N**: I had to leave it there haha. Okay, so, maybe it wasn't as interesting as I thought, but the next one will be. Um, you know, hopefully. Lol.

By the way, I think most of the chapters will be about this long. None really as long as the first one. Just so you know.

So, now that that's finished, R & R please! :)


	4. Nice to Crash into You!

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter Four: Nice to Crash into You!

"You look absolutely beautiful!" said Elinor. She had just finished dressing Merida for the gathering. She wore a blue tight dress with a gold trim around the skirt, and neckline. With a golden belt that dangled down. "Uh ugh, I can't breathe!" Merida squeaked. Make that, _very_ tight dress. White cloth covered her hair and neck, only showing her face. A golden band was sown in like a crown.

"Oh shush. Give us a turn." said Elinor. Merida did her best. "I can't move! It's too tight!" she cried. Her mother almost looked like she would cry any moment. "Oh, it's perfect!" she gleamed.

"Ooooughh!" sighed Merida. There was a moment of silence, well, if you don't count Merida's grunting and groaning. Then Merida looked at her mother. She looked as though she had something to say. "Merida-" she began. She paused. "Mum?" said Merida. Her mother for a moment looked unsure of something, then she straightened herself out. "Just-" she then straightened herself out. "Remember to smile." she finished. Elinor then left the room leaving a kind of confused Merida.

"Aye! They're a comin'!" called the doorman. Everyone got ready and began to settle down. "Places everyone, places." said Elinor to the crowd.

Merida struggled to get into her seat next to her father's seat. The dress was just so damn tight! She finally sat down, a little slouched. Her mother noticed and forced her to sit upright. Elinor looked away for a moment. Merida reached up and plucked out a lock of hair from the mass that was underneath her white cloth. But, Elinor turned back around and noticed. She tucked the strands back into the cloth. Merida sighed slightly, and frowned.

Elinor went to her own seat, and calmed down her energetic boys. She was about to fix something with Fergus' sleeve. Fergus jerked away. "I look fine Elinor, let me be." he said playfully. Merida glanced at her mother, frowning still, and pulled out the strands of hair again.

Everything calmed as one of the doormen started to introduce the clans. But he was interrupted by the doors slamming open. The four clan marched, literally marched, in. One of the men, most likely a leader, was shorter than the rest and called for a stool. They then all roared and cheered as the music played. After a few seconds, they stood still, and quiet. Fergus then stood up.

"So, here we are! Uh, the four clans! Uh, gathering!" said Fergus, Elinor sighed in the background, "uh, for-"

"The presentation of the suitors!" said Elinor, and Fergus then copied. The crowd cheered. "Clan Macintosh!" said Fergus.

"Clan Macintosh!" the clan echoed.

"Your majesty. I present my heir, and son. Who defended our land from the northern invaders, and with his own sword, stabbed and vanquished a thousand trolls." said the leader, his son displayed his sword skills as he spoke. Then the clan cheered.

Merida sat in her chair, utterly wishing she was riding and shooting. "Clan MacGuffin!" called the next clan. The leader stepped forward. "Your majesty! I present my eldest son!" his son came up. He was a big guy, but looked nervous. "Bestubbled the Viking war ships from his bare hands! And vanquished, two thousand trolls." said the leader. The son then broke a short log in half with his hands. Still looking nervous. His father patted him on the shoulder and he seemed to relax a bit more, sneaking a peak at Merida. She snuck one eye out from her hands. "And Dingwall." said Fergus.

"I present, my only son, who was be seized by ten thousand Romans, and he took out a whole Armada, singlehandedly! With one arm. He-" the leader of the Dingwall clan suddenly sneered. He pulled out from behind a huge man that they had thought to be the son, a small, kind of skinny, well- yeah. "He was stealing the ship, and with the other, he held his mighty sword, and struck down the whole attacking fleet!" finished the leader.

"Lies!" someone from another clan shouted. Everyone began to laugh. "What?! I heard that! Come on, say it to the face!" said the leader.

"Or are ya scared simpering jackanapes, afraid to mess your pretty hair?" he teased.

"At least _we_ have hair." said the Macintosh leader. The crowd laughed. "As all our teeth." said the MacGuffin clan leader.

"And, we don't hide under bridges, ya grumpy ol' troll!" said the Macintosh leader. The crowd roared up again. "Ya wanna laugh huh?" the short leader called for his son who looked over.

Suddenly the son viciously attacked the Macintosh leader started a clan fight. Fergus was loving it, but he then looked at Elinor. She sat unimpressed. As did Merida. Probably for different reasons though. Fergus sighed. "Alright." he said, and got up.

"CUT IT! Now. That's all done. You've had goin' at each other. Show a little decorum. And..." Fergus was about to continue, however, there had been a change of plans. The boys had snuck away and without the parents noticing, started the fighting again. This time, Fergus joined in. After a moment, Elinor stood up. She began to walk amongst the now, parting crowd of men. She grabbed the leader's ears, including Fergus', and dragged them back to the front of the crowd.

There was a bit of 'I didn't start it he did', 'I feel really terrible', and 'it was much disrespectful.'

The queen walked sternly back to her seat, as did Fergus. "I'm sorry love, but I-I-I- didn- yes dear." said Fergus as Elinor gave a stern look. _"Men. Men and fighting. In front of the queen and princess! Ugh!"_ she thought.

"Uh, eh hem. Now. Where were we? Ah yes. In accordance in our laws, by the rights of our heritage, only the first born of each of the great leaders may be presented as champions. And thus, compete for the hand of the princess of Dunbroch. To win the fair maiden they must prove their worth. By feats of strength or arms in the games. It is customary that the challenge be determined by the princess herself." said Elinor.

While she was speaking, the words, 'first born' replayed in Merida's mind. _She_ was the first born. She could compete- right? Most importantly- _she_ got to choose the sport. She stood up from her seat. "Archery! Archery." she exclaimed excitedly. Perhaps, too excitedly. In her mother's opinion. Elinor turned around and gapped slightly at her daughter. Merida caught her eye and straightened out a bit. "I choose archery." she finished calmly. Elinor turned to the crowd of clans. "Let the games begin!" she said.

It was certainly an interesting day to say the least. There were many different sports, there was dancing being performed, and the triplets secretly wreaking havoc in stealing sweet buns. After a while of fun, Fergus stood on the stage the dancers were on and spoke. "It's time!" he shouted. The crowd cheered. "Archers to your marks!" said Elinor. As Fergus chimed in. "Ah yes, archers t-to your marks!" he shouted.

"And may the lucky arrow find it's target!" said Elinor. Merida sat near by with a certain trick under her chair.

The sons got ready. "Aye! Get on with it!" called Fergus. Apparently very eager to see what they could do with bows and arrows.

The first, was the young MacGuffin. Making sure he didn't bust the bow in two, he pulled slightly, and shot. The arrow just made it onto the target. The crowd laughed as he sighed. Merida leaned into her father. "I bet he wishes he was tossin' cabers." she said quietly.

"Or holdin' up bridges!" Fergus laughed quietly. The two chuckled until Elinor shushed them.

Next, was the Macintosh son. He flashed a look at the crowd of women who seemed to swoon at the sight of him. Then he shot. The arrow just barely missing the centre. "Noooooooo!" he shouted.

"At least you hit the target son!" called his father. His son began to throw a fit. For someone who Merida thought was a quiet one, he for sure wasn't.

"Oh. That's attractive." she mocked. The boy began beating his bow on the ground in frustration. He then threw it far behind the crowd and collapsed on the ground. "I got it!" someone shouted, and they held up the bow as the crowd cheered.

"Good arm." said Merida.

"And such lovely flowing locks." teased Fergus. They were about to laugh again, but Elinor stopped them. "Fergus." she said sternly.

"What?" he said, innocently.

Finally, it was the son from Dingwall. He had a bit of trouble figuring out what exactly he was supposed to do. He tried putting the arrow in it's proper place on the bow. "Oh. Wee lamb." Merida said, almost pitying the boy. _Almost._ Fergus slapped a hand on his face. "Oh come on!" he cried. The boys arrow didn't seem to want to stay in place. "SHOOT!" shouted Fergus. The boy jumped a bit and let go of his arrow. Hitting the target dead centre. The crowd went wild!

"Ha-ha! Well done!" called his father. He smiled at his success.

His father then began to do a jig, and surprisingly mooned the other two lords. That was a sight they did _not_ want to see. "Well. That's. Just. Grand. Now. Isn't it? Guess who's comin' to dinner?" Fergus said, sarcasm obvious.

"Fergus." Elinor said.

"By the way. I hope you don't mind being called 'Lady Ding-'" Fergus stopped what he was saying. He should have been talking to Merida. But instead, he was talking to a blood hound! He looked, wide-eyed, out into the games. A hooded figure, no doubt he knew who it was, placed a flag for Dunbroch. Merida took off her cape, revealing her wild hair. The crowd gasped. Never had a princess compete in such games before!

"I am Merida. First born descendant of Landon Broch. And I'll be shootin' for my own hand!" she shouted loudly. She turned back to the three lords who gasped. They turned to the queen who stood up slowly. "What are you doing?" she said to herself.

Merida tried to set up her weapon, but the damn dress was too tight. "Merida!" called Elinor. Merida didn't listen. She struggled with the dress and finally had enough. "Curse this dress!`she cried. She lifted her arms all the way into the shooting position, ripping the dress in the process. She got ready, and began walking. She shot the first arrow. Dead centre. The crowd was in awe. "Merida stop this!" called Elinor. Again, she didn't listen. Elinor began to step down from where the thrown area was.

She shot the next arrow. Dead centre. This time the crowd gasped more loudly. "Don't you dare loose another arrow!" said Elinor. Clearly angry now. Merida pulled out her last arrow. She placed in on the bow. She took a deep breath. "Merida. I forbid it!" said Elinor. Merida almost didn't hear her. _Almost_. She shot. The arrow flew. At first it was almost as if everything went slowly for a moment. The arrow then hit dead centre once more. Only this time, splitting Dingwall's arrow in half and the arrow being shot _through_ the target so the feathers were just sticking out. The crowd was now in definite awe. She turned and glared, inches apart from her mother's similar glare.

Later that day, Merida was practically tossed into her room by Elinor. "I've just about had enough of you lass!" Elinor said loudly.

"You're the one that wants me to-"

"You embarrassed them. You embarrassed me!"

"I followed the rules!"

"You don't know what you've done!" Elinor said, her voice was deeper now. She closed the bedroom door.

"I just don't care about-" Merida's voice was higher instead of lower like her mother's.

There were a few more spats at each other. "Just listen!" Merida finally said.

"I am the queen! You listen to _me_."

"Aaaaaaah! This is _soooo_ unfair!" Merida slammed a fist down on a near by table.

"Ha. Unfair?" said Elinor. Merida held a knife in her fist. "You were never there for me! This whole marriage is what you want! Do you ever both to ask what I want? No! You walk around tellin' me what to do, what not to do-" Merida began whipping her bow around angrily. "Try to make me be like you! Well, I'm not goin' to be like you!"

"Ugh, you're acting like a child." Elinor said stubbornly.

"And you're a beast!" said Merida she pointed her knife at the tapestry. "You are-"

Elinor gasped at how close the bow actually was. "Merida!" she gasped.

"I'll never be like you!" Merida placed the tip of her bow into the tapestry.

"No stop that!" cried Elinor. Merida lifted her bow. "I'd rather DIE THAN BE LIKE YOU!" she screamed- while tearing the tapestry with the knife. Her mother gasped. The tear had been made right in between Merida and Elinor.

Elinor walked angrily up to her daughter. "Merida. You are a princess." she began, she took Merida's favourite bow. "I expect you to act like one!" she placed the bow into the fireplace. This time Merida was the one to gasp. She looked like she was about to cry. Instead of letting Elinor see her cry, she stormed out of the room. "Merida!" called Elinor. She heard a crackling noise. "Oh dear!"she exclaimed. She reached for the fire stick and pulled out the bow. Her breathing came in short rasps.

"What have I done." she asked herself. She began tearing up now. The bow was burnt a bit, but it was still whole. Although- Merida left beforehand.

Merida burst through the doors of the stables. Without a word to anyone, she jumped onto Angus and road off. She had to get away. Away from the festival, away from her mother- away from the castle grounds. She road and road through the thick forest of the lands. Merida buried her face in Angus' main. She didn't know where they were going, but anywhere was good.

The forest was getting thick. Branches stuck out every which way, with some almost hitting Merida. After a few more strides, Angus suddenly came to a stop, throwing Merida forwards off of him. She landed hard with the wind knocked out of her a bit. "Angus!" she yelled. Angus stepped back in fear of something. Merida looked around.

It was obvious that they were on sacred grounds. Or ancient grounds long forgotten. Standing in a circle, all around Merida, were giant stones. That was it. But there was an odd feeling in the air. Then she saw it.

A little, blue, glowing creature. A Will'o-the-wisp. It beckoned her forward. She slowly walked up to it and reached out. But then it disappeared. A little further ahead of her, a trail of them appeared. Leading her away from the castle. She turned back to her horse who wouldn't step inside the circle. "Come on Angus." she said calmly. The horse wouldn't move. "Angus!"

No matter what she said, Angus wasn't moving. Nothing would make him go into that creepy- wait, she was going! She was leaving him behind and going into that creepy forest! Angus whinnied. He gave up and just went around the stones and followed her in.

One by one, they led her deeper into the woods. Merida walked on, only coming to a little cottage. "Why did the wisps lead me here?" she said. But then she saw more. Leading her beyond the cottage. Angus became on edge. He didn't like this. They were going beyond Don Broch's boundaries. Finally the wisps disappeared all together. Merida looked around. They were still in the forest. She walked a little on, with Angus cautious. Merida looked to her left and could see the sun. it was setting. Her mother would be worried, as well as her father. But, she didn't go back. She _couldn't_ go back. Arranged marriages weren't something she could ever _go back_ to. She tugged on Angus' reins. Reluctantly, he followed her further.

"Where do ya think they led me Angus?" Merida asked quietly. Angus whinnied. After a few more steps, she came to a clearing. Just a medium sized circle surrounding by trees. There was also a sign about four feet in front of Merida. A sign that marked the boundaries of- "Corona..." Merida breathed.

"Let's go!" shouted North. In no time, they took off at almost lightening speed. Jamie grasped on to the seat. Suddenly he felt the sleigh lift off of the air. "Whooooa!" he shouted. But his shouts weren't as loud as Bunny's. He mentally sighed. Of course he'd be freaking out while Cupcake threw her hands in the air like Sandy. While in the tunnel, Jamie slid a little as the sleigh tilted into a loop de loop. "Ha ha! I hope you like the loop de loop!" shouted North. Bunny nearly threw up, and Jamie swore he almost fell out. He grasped on to the seat as tightly as he could. Meanwhile, Cupcake and Sandy, and maybe Jack too, were having the times of their lives.

In s short time, they were out of the tunnel. Jamie watched as Jack stood up, actually, he wasn't sure if he ever sat down! Anyway, Jack leaned forwards and shouted with joy while Bunny shouted with terror. As for Jamie? Well, he wasn't sure if it was terror, or joy. He shut his eyes. Bad idea. The feeling was worse not knowing where the heck you were. He opened them again only to shout once more as the sleigh jumped completely off the ground.

North then pulled the sleigh higher into the air and did a sort of half loop de loop. Jack flew to the back seats and looked at the workshop they were leaving behind. "Whoa!" he said. Bunny nearly threw up again. "Hey Bunny, check out this view- ah!" said Jack. Jamie and Cupcake glanced back as Jack was flown off of the sleigh. They looked at each other, then looked at Sandy. He still had his hands in the air and was smiling. He winked at them reassuringly.

Bunny however, sighed and cautiously leaned to look downwards. He saw Jack sitting on one of the ski's just hanging out. "Aw. You do care." Jack said smugly. Bunny huffed. "Oh back off you bloody showpony!"

Jack flew back up and into the sleigh.

"Ha ha! So, how you like the sleigh ride eh?" said North as he glanced back.

"Well, I had fun!" said Jack. He glanced back at the others. Bunny still looked like he was about to be sick, and Sandy was smiling and nodding his head. "It was awesome!" shouted Cupcake. As for Jamie... "Uh, it-it uh, caught me by s-surprise, that's for sure..." was what he said. He was still clinging to the seat. Jack chuckled as did North. "It always does." he said. "Hold on everyone! I know a short cut!"

Bunny started freaking out and Jamie gripped the seat, ready for anything. "I knew I should have taken the tunnels!"

North got out a snow globe and started shaking it. "I say... Burgess..." He threw it in front of them. A huge portal opened up. "Whoa..." awed Jamie. The sleigh jerked forward hard. "Whoa!" he shouted.

After the sleigh went through the portal, their surroundings instantly changed. "Wow..." Jamie whispered. Below them on their right, stood a mountain. A mountain, with a village underneath it. "Um- that doesn't look like-"

"Whoa!" came a sudden shout. "Whoa! Whoa, whoa, no-no!"

_Bam!_

Something slammed into the sleigh! They got pushed to the right and everything became a blur for Jamie. He didn't know what the heck was happening. Soon everyone was free falling to the ground on the opposite side of the mountain the village was on. Everybody fell out of the sleigh. Time slowed down. Jack was having a tough time with the wind because of everyone around him. He couldn't control it very well.

Everyone braced themselves for the hard landing. Jamie closed his eyes as he saw the ground getting less and less blurry. He hit something hard and sort of bounced off of it. He fell hard on the actual ground. He heard something crash into the mountain. Slowly, Jamie opened his eyes as he came to. He groaned as he tried to move, but the pain in his back made that hard. Then he heard someone shout to him, but he couldn't make it out. His ears were too busy ringing. Jamie blinked. His vision was blurry still, and he was getting a headache. That wasn't good. "What?" was all he could say.

Suddenly, Jamie was pulled out of the way just in time before the sleigh hit the ground. Jamie looked around dizzily, and saw that Jack had saved him from being squashed. He tried to say thanks, but all that came out was a moan. "Hey, you alright?" asked Jack. Jamie didn't say anything. All he did was glance at Jack then shake his head. "He hit that mountain pretty hard mate, best be careful with him. Might have broken something. Poor kid." said Bunny.

"Oi, what hit sleigh? That _never_ happens!" North's loud voice suddenly boomed. He walked over to his turned over sleigh. He turned it right side up and checked it out. "Huh. Seems okay. My reindeer, are you alright?" he said. "Most good, they seem to be alright." Jack frowned and looked down at Jamie. "Wish I could say the same about Jamie." he sighed quietly. North looked up at that. "Oh no..." he said. Jamie was still out of it as he walked over. "Uh guys?" said Cupcake. But no one heard.

"Someone must take care of him." said North.

"Guys?"

"I'll do it." said Jack.

"Guys!"

"And what do you know about broken bones frosty?" said Bunny.

"Ugh, guys!"

"Hey, I-"

"Um, actually, I could, and probably should, help with that. Since I'm well, the one that crashed into you. Or the one who you crashed uh...into...it's all just a blur really." said a new voice. A young teenager walked up to them with a guilty expression.

"Guys!"

"Who the heck are you?" Jack asked.

"Oh, my name is Hiccup." he said.

"Guys! Arg!"

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third! Oh it's a pleasure ha!" said North as he laughed. "I remember you!" Hiccup looked at him oddly. "And how would you-"

"YO IDIOTS! SANDY SAYS THERE'S TROUBLE AT THE TOOTH PALACE!" Cupcake shouted. They all jumped at the sudden sound and stared at her and Sandy. He nodded his head while glaring. "Trouble?" said North.

"Trouble what do you mean?" said Bunny.

"Uh, Tooth Palace?" said Hiccup.

"Idiots?" said Jack. There was a pause, and they all looked at him. Jack awkwardly glanced at them. "What's up Sandy?" he said quickly.

Sandy made some hand gestures, and more images appeared above his head. "He says we should hurry." said Cupcake.

"Hurry? But, what about Jamie?" said Jack.

"Does he live around Berk? I could-"

"Berk! Hm. Snow globe must have misheard. Thought I said Burgess. Ah, I check on it later." said North.

"You know where Burgess is?" Jack asked Hiccup.

"Sort of, I mean, I haven't actually been there, but I've seen all kinds of maps. So I know the general area." he said.

"Great! I'll point it out, I kind of live there, but I've only been _here_ a few times. Well, you know, it usually blizzards here so that makes it easy." said Jack.

"Yeah I noticed." was Hiccup's reply.

"Well, that's one thing settled, so Jack will go with Hiccup and the kids, and North, Sandy and I will get to the Tooth Palace." said Bunny. He paused. "By using my tunnels." Before he could even open one, North grabbed him and plopped him in the sleigh. Completely ignoring all of his "requests" not to. "Oh come on Bunny, it's not that bad." said Jack.

"Right and-" but Bunny's words were cut off by his screaming. In a magical blast, the sleigh was a speck. A thought suddenly came to Jack.

"Wait. You're just a regular human, right?" he asked Hiccup. He looked at him after gazing at the sleigh. "Um... yeah..." he said questioningly.

"Then how were you able to fly?"

"Oh that, well-"

"That's an easy one!" called Cupcake, getting their attention. They looked over and saw that she had moved over to a spot near a... a... Jack's eyes widened. "No _way!_ Is that a-"

"Dragon? Yes. Yes he is." said Cupcake. Said creature smiled a toothless smile at Jack. Jack blinked. He did _what now?_ Hiccup laughed. He was just glad that he's found people who wouldn't kill a dragon on sight.

"Yeah, I named him Toothless. For uh, obvious reasons." said Hiccup. They both walked over to Toothless, who had just sat back and watched the whole thing after coming to from the crash. These people seemed trustworthy enough for him. He's seen them before actually, and he knows that they protect the children of the world. So they're on his uh, nice list. "Right, let's do this." said Jack. Hiccup got on Toothless, and Jack placed Jamie behind him. To make sure that he stayed put, Cupcake got on behind him.

"Okay, let's go bud." said Hiccup. Just before Jack was about to jump up, Toothless beat him to it. He sighed. "Man, just like that kangaroo." he said quietly, then he followed. Suddenly, a thought hit him. "So...Hiccup. How old did you say you were?" he asked once he caught up. Hiccup glanced at him questioningly. "I didn't. But I'm fifteen, and I'll be sixteen in a few months or so." he answered. Jack stared ahead. So, he was a teenager. A _teenager!_ He was also able to see Jack. Not to mention the others. "So. You believe?" he asked.

"Believe what?" was his response. What? That didn't make any sense. "I mean- um, hold on. Do you know who I am?" Jack asked.

"No."

"Of course you don't." sighed Jack. "Well, what about the others?" Hiccup shrugged. "I didn't get a good look."

"Of course you didn't."

Toothless listened in. He was sure curious about the others- and why one was a giant rabbit with boomerangs. Now _that_ was a sight to see. He was surprised that Hiccup didn't notice.

"Well-" started Jack. Toothless didn't hear the rest though.

Suddenly a familiar sent, signal, and fear washed over him and he completely ignored the humans on his back. They needed to turn around. SOON!

Without warning them, Toothless suddenly dove downwards. "Toothless what's happening?!" said Hiccup. He obviously knew something was wrong. Toothless flew faster, although he didn't want to. That was how the power worked. "Whoa, what is it?" Hiccup said. He growled in response knowing that he couldn't understand. Soon, they were joined, or he joined, other dragons. A whole herd it looked like. Toothless knew something would happen to him and his companions if they didn't turn around. "Get down." said Hiccup, it would be even worse if the other dragons saw Toothless _befriending_ them. This made him more nervous.

"What's going on?" whispered Cupcake.

"I don't know. Toothless. You gotta get us out of here bud." said Hiccup. He knew he should. "There's so many of them..." said Jack. But the power was over...well, overpowering him. At the moment, they could only fly towards...it. "It looks like they're hauling in their kill..." Hiccup said, nervous. This also made Toothless nervous. "Um, so what does that make us?" Cupcake asked nervously. Jack and Hiccup exchanged nervous glances.

The dragons dove down and began flying in between some rocks. They flew until they came to it. The volcano. They flew into a dark tunnel that led into it. Oh gods, there it was! Toothless was beginning to panic. He knew he'd get it. Since he hadn't been seen for about a month or so. That made it seem as though he ran. Or, flew more like it. Jack could feel intense heat. Well, it was intense for him. They were now in a lava pit. The dragons began to drop their kill into it. "What my dad wouldn't give to find this..." Hiccup said, half with awe and half with utter fear. Jack looked at him. His dad? What did he have to do with any of this? Toothless flew around and finally landed behind a tall stone that jutted out of the hole's side. "Well it's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." said Hiccup.

"They're not eating any of it." stated Jack.

He then noticed a tiny year old Gronkle flying towards the hole. With a little tiny piece of food- That he threw up. It seemed as though he figured that would be good. Toothless got tense. Well, that was because... He knew the punishment for no food.

Jack was finding it hard to breath because of the heat. "Hey, we gotta-"

Out of nowhere, a huge, _gigantic_ bony dragon head appeared and swallowed the tiny Gronkle as if it were nothing! Toothless heard Hiccup gasp. "What...was that." Cupcake said.

All of the other dragons that had landed were frightened. Toothless knew it wouldn't be long before he got sniffed out. The huge dragon looked as though it were going back down, but then it sniffed. "Alright bud we gotta get outta here. Now." whispered Hiccup. He was most definitely right! Toothless glanced at their leader and panic and fear rushed over him. He took off just in time before they were chomped on! All of the dragons began flying out in a spiral making it hard for the beast to get after them. Jack flew after them and spun around and fired an icy blast at the giant dragon. They were finally safe.

"It totally makes sense! It's like a giant beehive!" exclaimed Hiccup. Well, he had the right idea. "They're the workers and that's their queen!" he finished. Alright Toothless could agree with that theory. He thought it was strange at first...but once he had finished. He was right. "It controls them." said Jack. They landed in the safe outskirts of Burgess. They were among a huge thick forest, so they wouldn't be seen.

"Well, now we know why they've been raiding the villages for so long! That stupid queen is just too lazy to feed herself!" said Jack. "Hey, you said something about your dad wanting to find it? Shouldn't you tell him?" He was surprised to see Hiccup panic a bit.

"No! No. No! Not yet, they'll kill Toothless. Guys we have to think this through. Carefully. My dad...my village...well...they have a long- history with dragons." said Hiccup. Toothless looked back and forth between the two. Hiccup then began to tell his story. Then Toothless felt something move in the saddle. What? Oh right! Duh. That kid must be awakening now. He glanced back. Sure enough, the little guy was stirring.

"So, what are you gonna do about the queen then? Surely in order to restore peace between dragons and Vikings, she has to go down." said Jack. Hiccup glanced down. "Yeah, but- it's only me and Toothless." he said quietly.

"I guess we're not that different. Are we?" said Jack. Hiccup looked at him. "What do you mean?" he asked. Jack then went on to tell his story. In which afterwards, Hiccup just stared at him. There was an awkward moment of silence. "You're _who now?_" Hiccup said finally, his face dead panned. Jack blinked. His face was also dead panned. "Do I really need to say it again?" he asked. Toothless rolled his eyes even though they didn't see it.

Finally the two snapped out of their dead panned expressions. "Oh, we have to get Jamie back, he's probably feeling down right lousy." said Jack.

"Actually, I think he's feeling much better." said Cupcake. The two turned to see Jamie, sitting up right, with his right hand a few inches away from his head. Jack figured that he was probably just rubbing away a headache or something. Jamie was also stiff, and staring straight ahead. At Toothless. Cupcake looked at Jamie. She then waved a hand in front of his face. Nothing. "Except if you keep breaking him there won't be anything left." she said.

"Um, I take it he's never seen a dragon before huh?" said Hiccup. Nope. Not in his life.

Corona. _Corona!_ She, Merida, princess of Dunbroch, was on the outskirts, or boundaries of Corona! Their neighbouring country! She just couldn't believe that the wisps had led her that far! She slowed her breathing and looked around her. If she walked past the sign, she would be in Corona. She'd always wondered what the place was like. But her parents would never let her go on their meetings. She made sure that there were no guards around. Maybe she should do something with her hair to make her less noticeable. People were bound to recognize her sooner or later. It was best that it'd be later. But she didn't have any hair ties or hats, or- just anything that would make her hair look different. That she would have to find in the city.

She also wished that she had more than this dumb, newly ripped dress. It was just uncomfortable. But she'd have to find that in the city also. She sighed. Perhaps she could have been more prepared. But, it'd all happened so fast. She shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

Merida decided that it would be best to go around the circle rather that stick out in plain sight through the middle. So, she grabbed Angus' reigns, and started walking. It didn't take as long as she thought before she'd passed the circle and into Corona's woods. Merida kept her eyes out for any guards. Thankfully, there didn't seem to be any. Maybe they only guarded the inside boundaries. Or maybe she was farther from Corona than she thought.

She gazed at the trees. They were so different, yet so similar to the trees of Dunbroch. They were- "Oof!" Merida suddenly tripped on a rout onto a kind of grassy pathway. Angus whinnied a bit. Then suddenly, she heard- screaming? It was coming from...above her. What?

She looked up.

Soon she saw not one, but _two_ figures falling down, aiming straight at her! She gasped and scampered to her feet. She tugged Angus and moved out of the way just in time. A man fell hard on the ground. But he seemed fine as he glanced up and darted out of the way just as- another horse had fallen down? What the heck was happening? She then noticed that this horse, was a palace horse of Corona. She also noticed how very..._dog_ like he was. The man? Strange. Handsome, sure, but strange. He was also holding a satchel. The horse seemed to be after the man. Great. She'd stumbled upon a thief.

She had had enough of their little scuffle, and charged right in between them. "Oi! Ya could have hit me! You-" Oh, that horse was incredibly determined! "STOP IT! Both of you!" she shouted, taking them both by surprise. The horse stopped, as did the man.

"I will, if _he_ will." said the man. Merida gave him a look. The man crossed his arms. Merida turned to the horse. She then started to pet him, which he seemed to enjoy. "Oh, ye are just tired of chasin' him all day, aren't ya?" she said. The horse nodded and whinnied. "What?" she heard the man say.

"Oh you're just a lovely horse now! Yes you are- Max." she said, reading his tag. He nodded again. "You've got to be kidding me." said the man. Merida ignored him. She then noticed the boot in Max's mouth. He must have grabbed it in the fight. "How about this? You drop the boot, and..." she looked around, and hoped to find an apple tree. Luckily, she found one! "And you can have all the apples on that tree." she finished. Max looked at her unsure. Then he glanced at the tree. The boot fell from his mouth. "Oh come on!" shouted the man. Yep, Merida definitely had her ways with horses. She turned to the man. "Now. Who _exactly are you?_" she said.

The man's eye brows raised up. Then he smiled at her. "Hi. I'm Flynn. Flynn Rider." he said.

**A/N**: Okay, I think _this_ one was the interesting one lol. So, what did you think? R & R please! :)


	5. A New Home

**A/N**: here's chapter five!

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter Five: A New Home

"Hi. I'm Flynn. Flynn Rider." said the man. Merida gave him an odd look. "That's a strange name." she said. The man's smile faded and he rolled his eyes. Then he smiled mischievously. After the man's first smile, Merida had caught on that he was supposedly flirting with her. She placed her hands on her hips as he did his next, "move."

"Alright, it's come down to this-" he said. He looked at her, and gave her a...what was that a smile? "What_ are_ ye doin' with yer lips?" Merida asked. Not that she was sure she wanted to know. The man blinked. There was an awkward pause. "Why aren't you swooning?" said Flynn, his lips still in that weird position. It was more of a statement than a question. Merida scowled at him. "Ye don't know what you look like, do ya?" she said defensively. Flynn frowned, rolled his eyes, and sighed. "Really! Nothing!" he paused, "Who are you anyways?" he asked, clearly frustrated with the results. Merida scowled again.

"This must be the wisps teasin' me. I run from arranged marriages and look who I almost get hit by? This- _this-_ weird lipped flirtatious thief!" she said, more to herself than Flynn or the horses. Flynn's eyes narrowed. She had just completely ignored his question and called him a name. How rude. _"Weird lipped. Ha."_ he thought. The girl was now pacing back and forth in frustration. "Why on earth would the wisps lead me to _you_?" she said.

"Hey-"

"And it's bad enough that I don't have my bow-"

"Hello!"

"She's so infuriatin'!"

"Weird lipped thief over here trying to get your attention!"

"That monster is probably laughin'. She never cared."

"Monster? Who are you-" Suddenly Merida tripped over her dress and fell.

"Ugh. I hate this dress! I've got to find a new one!" she huffed. She got up and brushed herself off. "Perfect!" Flynn said loudly to get her attention. She looked over. "I know just the place!" Merida frowned. "But I didn't bring any money. How am I to pay?" she said.

Flynn thought for a moment. She had a good point. "Leave that to me good woman! And while we're out and about, I'll show ya around town! I've been through it plenty of times." he said. Merida scoffed. "Probably gettin' chased around by guards and horses." she said. Max snorted. Flynn glared at him. He did NOT like that horse. "Look, you want help or not?" he said. Merida looked at him. Then sighed. "Yes." she said.

"Good. Now, we'll deal with your dress first. It looks too, royal." said Flynn. Merida glanced down at her dress. The dress that had once been so beautiful and a calm blue, was now ripped, and browned. In fact, it didn't actually look princess-like at all. It'd probably be fine. But, she did want to get out of it. It was dreadfully uncomfortable. She looked at Angus. Would anyone recognise him though? "Oh don't worry about him. I'm sure that if he's with Max here, he'll be fine." said Flynn, as if reading her thoughts. Max snorted at him.

In a few minutes the four of them had reached the city. Merida stared at everything. It was all so...wonderful! She must admit, that she didn't expect it to be like this though. People were all smiles, and music could be heard from somewhere near by. No one payed any attention to her. She was grateful for it. Children were running about, and smiling at everything.

"Ah, here we are! Bristow's!" Flynn said finally. Merida paused and looked at the shop. It was tiny, but elegant. It looked cute. Like a cottage, but a shop. "Yo ginger, you gonna stare all day?" said Flynn. He was already at the door ready to go in. Merida scowled at his nickname for her. She walked up and hesitantly opened the door before he could. "How very gentlemen like of you." she said sarcastically. He sighed. "Well how very lady like of you. You know you practically- almost pushed me down the stairs?" said Flynn. Merida ignored him as her attention was now focussed on the store.

Dresses of every colour, size, and style, were hung, draped, and folded everywhere you looked! Merida pondered on how she'd even be able know which one she'd want. "Oh, don't worry about not being able to choose, this lady knows all. From slim, to poofy, to all the colours of the rainbow! Oh, and she's best friends with the shoe person next door. They're sort of partners. If a customer came in and chose something from they're shop, they'd then send them over to the other to find something that matches." explained Flynn.

Merida was about to comment on it, when a short and stout young woman came bustling over to her. "Oh dear! That dress is tattered! You must have run in to thieves." Merida smirked at Flynn, who just frowned and crossed his arms. "You poor dear. Now let's see here." The young woman then muttered some things about measurements as she measured out Merida's height, chest size, and arm length. Merida couldn't help but think that this woman was a younger version of Maudie. She smiled at the thought. Then the woman pulled out an eye glass, and looked closely into Merida's bright blue eyes. Merida, being distracted by the eye glass, flinched as the woman pulled a strand of hair from her head. The woman gazed at the strand through the eye glass.

"Oh, oh! Oh I know! I know which one! Yes! Ah ha! Oh it'd be perfect!" she said excitedly. But before Merida could even open her mouth to ask, she was gone into the back room. She looked at Flynn, who smirked.

In no time, the woman came back carrying a dress in her hands. She placed it in Merida's hands and she shoved her gently towards the back to the changing rooms. "Oh, go try it on dear! Oh this will be magnificent!" she said excitedly.

Merida stepped behind the doors of one of the changing rooms. In a couple of minutes, she changed and stepped out. The woman had gestured to a large, standing mirror. Merida gazed at it. Her dress was beautiful! It fit perfectly! It was a similar style to her favourite dark green dress. From the neckline down to her waist, was a dark teal, which then faded into a deep dark purple. The neckline was the same purple. There was a small deep purple flower where her heart was.

"So, how will the young miss be paying for it?" asked the lady.

"Oh, um, I didn't think a lovely young woman such as yourself, who is so gorgeous in periwinkle and puffs, would-"

"Money, or no dress." the lady said firmly. Flynn frowned.

"Um, excuse me miss, but all my money has been stolen by thieves while travelling here. I'm afraid I have no way of payin' ye. I truly am sorry. But my horse is all I've got left, and I can't simply trade him for anything." said Merida.

"What?" said Flynn.

"Oh you poor dear! Those rotten thieves had better be caught soon. They seem to be grabbing anything worth money! Hmph!"

"Come on-" said Flynn.

"Hm, I suppose I can let you have the dress."

"Really." said Flynn. He was completely getting ignored here. That just wasn't fair!

"Really?" said Merida.

"Of course dear."

"Really!" said Flynn.

"You've had such a hard time just getting here. Oh and you're so original! I've never met one quite like you!" laughed the woman. Merida smiled. "Ooh, I don't think I even need to send you next door for shoes, yours are so lovely!"

"Thank you. Oh, and thank you for the dress miss." said Merida. Flynn rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's go ginger." he said. He started towards the door. Merida frowned at him. "Hm, not so sociable is he?" said the lady. Merida looked at her. Then they both laughed. Flynn grunted having overheard them. He opened the door and frowned at Merida who walked past him.

"I don't get it. Why didn't that woman swoon at me? I'm usually irresistible!" said Flynn. Merida snorted. Flynn glared. "What?" he said. She then laughed. "Well what did ye expect? You were the only man in a women's dress shop commenting on her dress! Obviously she wouldn't be attracted." she said, with more laughter. Flynn stopped walking. "Oh man! What- you didn't think to correct her!" he said. Merida could only laugh. "Who's to say that _is_ in fact what she thought anyways?" she said. The giggled as Flynn frowned at her. They kept walking.

"So anyways, now to deal with that matt you call hair." said Flynn. Merida glared at him. "And what's wrong with my hair?" she asked. Flynn stopped walking and looked at her. "Hey, is it _me_ who doesn't want to be recognized?" he asked. Merida scoffed. They carried on looking for some kind of hair place. "Oh, hang on, I see them." said Flynn. But, he was completely blocking Merida's view. "Who?" she said peering out from behind him.

Flynn then whistled catching three little girl's attention. They had been braiding each others hair by a large fountain. Flynn gestured to Merida's hair. They gasped and smiled.

Jamie just stared at what was in front of him. "Dra..." was all he said. He couldn't concentrate on anything else. Not even that repeating sound, or the thing that was poking his arm. Oh wait. Jamie finally blinked. That was Cupcake saying his name and poking him to get his attention. He looked over at her. She was obviously annoyed with him. "About time doofus." she said. Has it really been a long time?

"Huh? Oh. Sorry." he said, blushing. Jack flew over to him and stood beside Cupcake. "And he speaks." he said chuckling.

"Um...why am I on a dragon?" asked Jamie. Jack looked at him. "You must have passed out and miss the whole thing after the crash." he said.

"Crash?" said Jamie. Then everything came back in a flash. "Oh! The crash!" he said. He sat up straight, which caused him to flinch and grab his shoulder. It really hurt. "I guess you're not quite as well as we hoped." came a new voice. Jamie looked over to his left to see a young teenager standing there. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh right, sorry, I'm Hiccup. And the dragon that you're sitting on is Toothless. Don't worry, he's pretty friendly." Said dragon turned his head and smiled at Jamie. Jamie shyly smiled back as he rubbed his shoulder. "What am I gonna tell my mom? She's probably wondering where I am." he said.

"Don't worry about it. Oh, and if she questions your shoulder, just say that you slipped on some ice or something." said Jack. Jamie smiled. "Right. Thanks." he said. He carefully got off of Toothless. But then he slipped. On some ice. Jamie flinched from the pain in his shoulder. "At least it won't really be a lie anymore..." said Hiccup. Jamie sighed. "Oh hey. You seem like your travelling somewhere. And it's gonna get dark soon. Do you know where you're going?" he asked Hiccup.

Hiccup hesitated for a moment. "No...I don't..." he said. Jamie's face became lit up. "I've got an idea! You can stay with my family! Well, either that or we can find someplace for you. My mom probably won't mind, she's very friendly!" he said excitedly. He said it all very fast and it took Hiccup a few seconds to realise what he'd said. "Huh? Oh, um, th-that's nice and all but-"

"Come on, I could show you around Burgess! We haven't had someone from our sister town visiting us for- well for ever! It'd be fun! Oh, and Jack spends most of his time there apparently. It's where he became a guardian!"

"Whoa, whoa! I'm not a guardian!"

"Yet." said Cupcake. Jack sighed. As did Hiccup. "You might just be the most energetic kid I've ever met." Hiccup said. Jamie blinked. "Is that a yes?" he asked.

Toothless just sat back and enjoyed the show. He wondered why humans acted the way they did sometimes.

"Wha- I-"

"I'm not hearing a no!" said Cupcake. Jamie stood up and started towards his village. "Come on! Hey! We should tell her about Toothless! He's so cool!" said Jamie as Cupcake followed him. Hiccup looked at Jack then at the kids. "Uh, what just happened?" he said. Jack laughed. "You my friend, just got invited to a sleep over!" Hiccup rolled his eyes. He looked at Toothless. He just stared smugly. "And you've been a great help. Thanks a lot." he said, totally dead panned. Toothless just blinked. Oh he was laughing alright. On the inside.

Hiccup started after the kids. Jack leaned against Toothless. "Heh. Strange guy." he said to him. Toothless cooed in response as if to agree.

"Oh, sorry pal, it's probably a smart idea that you stay out here. Don't want to scare the villagers now, do we?" said Jack. Toothless sighed and started to burned a circle in the ground to sleep on. "Huh." said Jack. Then he flew off towards the village.

Merida stood up after a (slightly aggravating) few hours, and stretched. She thanked the three little girls who had somehow, magically transformed her mass of hair into a braid. Merida stared at her reflection in the mirror as the girls ran off. She looked so...different. Her parents might not recognise her at first. The only hairs that were left out of the braid were the shorter ones that framed her face nicely. Honestly, for her, it felt weird to have her hair done up, but she knew it had to be done. With a new dress, and new hair style, Merida was free to roam the city without much worry. She still had to keep an eye out for Scottish guards of course though.

Merida suddenly felt incredibly tired. "So, Flynn." she said. He turned to her from his spot on the fountain at the sudden sound of her voice. "Do you know where I could find a place to stay for the night?" she asked.

"Oh sure." said Flynn. He didn't move. Merida frowned at him. Some tour guide. "So, where is it?" she pressed on. Flynn looked at her. "It's righ' the'e lassie!" he said, in a (very bad) Scottish accent. He gestured to his left. Merida glared at his mimicking, but felt a bit embarrassed that the words "Bennet Family Inn" were right in front of her. She walked past Flynn who smirked at his accent. She stopped suddenly when she glanced up at the sign again. "Bennet. Hm. Strange name..." she said to herself. Flynn snorted. "Probably not as strange as yours." he paused. "_That I still don't know._" he finished. She ignored him. "Just like usual." he muttered and followed her in. Hey, he was a thief who spent his days wondering about the city. He needs rest too.

The two walked in the front doors of the inn. It wasn't a fancy place, but it wasn't much of a lower class inn as well. There was a sitting area, a restaurant, and stairs leading up to the rooms. The floor was wood, but smooth to walk on. Near the right of the doors, was a desk where an old man reading a book sat at. It didn't seem like a busy place at the moment. The two of them walked up to the man. Flynn stopped for a second. "Oh, Max, take care of Angus." he said. Max snorted.

"What." said Flynn. He made a face and Max made one back. Merida scoffed at their child-like behaviour. "Excuse me sir, my travelling guide and I would like a couple of rooms if ye don't mind us stayin'." said Merida. The man looked up from his book. He sighed. He took out a key. "A hae Ae be' lef'.Ye tak i' or lea'e i'." he said in a very thick Scottish accent. Flynn blinked. "I have no idea." he whispered to Merida. She glanced at him, and rolled her eyes. He was just lucky that she was there. "We'll take it, thank ye very much!" she said. The man handed her the key. Their room number was on the key and so, they headed off.

Finally, after what felt like three flights of stairs, (which was really just one, but hey, they were extremely tired,) they got to their room. Merida unlocked the door and they stepped inside. "Oh ho no. No way." said Flynn. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Merida scoffed. "There's no way I'm sleeping in the same bed as you." said Flynn. Merida walked further into the room, and sat down on the bed. It was so comfy! "Well then. We can at least agree on something." she said. Flynn looked at her. "Wh- it doesn't mean that you instantly get the bed!" he said as he moved away from the wall and walked up to her.

Merida scowled. Flynn sighed. "Okay. We have to work something out here. I'll make you a deal." he said. Merida looked at him unsure. "I'm listenin'..." she said.

"Great! Okay, here it is. We'll switch half way through the night. Like, you get the bed first, then I'll get the bed. Sound good?"

Merida frowned. No way was she only getting a half a night's rest. To make her point, she laid down on the bed and turned away from Flynn. "Good night." she said. He sighed deeply. "Yeah what ever." he said. He plopped down on the floor next to the bed. There was a moment of silence. "Could you at least score a guy some pillows, you have like six- ow! Hey!" he said as she threw three of them at him. Soon, the two of them fell asleep.

"Jamie, Jamie!" called Hiccup. He ran after the kid. For someone who was nearly squashed, slept through the whole dragon queen fiasco, and had possibly broken something- he sure had tons of energy. Two kids stopped walking and looked at him. "Please don't tell her about Toothless. I don't want anything to happen to him." Hiccup said glancing back at his friend. Jamie looked at him. Then he frowned. "Alright, I wont." he said as he glanced down. "Thank you." said Hiccup. They started walking again.

As they approached the village, Hiccup became more, and more nervous. He'd never actually been to another village before. What if he couldn't find a place to spend the night? He supposed he would just go back and stay with Toothless. That's always an option. However, Jamie had said that his mother was friendly, so all in all- there was a fifty/fifty chance she'd say yes. Or she'd help him find someone that would take him in.

"Uh oh, it's pretty much dark out. We should hurry. My mom's probably going nuts by now." said Jamie. They walked faster, but Jamie was careful in trying not to slip again. Jack followed closely behind them. He also made sure that he didn't create an ice path underneath them by accident. That probably wouldn't end well like the last time...

But of course things just didn't go as planned. Jamie didn't notice a hidden patch of ice as he walked up to his house. Once again, he slipped, and somehow twisted so that he was on his stomach. He slid the rest of the four feet there. His feet knocked on the door. "Ow." he grunted. The other two flinched and looked at Jack. He held up his hands defensively. "It wasn't me that time! I swear!" he said. Then the front door opened, and presumably, Jamie's mother stood in the doorway. "Um, hi mom. I'm home." said Jamie from the ground.

"Oh Jamie, there you are. I was just going to go get you. Are you alright?" she asked. She helped Jamie up. He flinched as she touched his shoulder. "Um, I slipped on the way over here. I'm fine." he said. She looked uncertain at him. "Well, alright then. You must have been busy at the library." she said.

"Lib- Library! The book! I forg- um, I can uh, get it tomorrow. It- it'll still be there..." said Jamie as he noticed his mother's expression. She smiled. Then she noticed their visitor. "Oh, who's your friend?" she asked.

"Oh that's Hiccup. He's from our sister town, Berk! I was wondering if you could help him find a place to stay for a while." explained Jamie. His mother smiled. "It's nice to meet you. It's been a while since someone from Berk dropped by. But I'm afraid that there's no room in my home, but I think I can find someone." she said. "Oh, Jamie will you watch your sister while I'm out?" Jamie resisted a sigh. "Yeah sure." he said. "Uh, bye Cupcake." he waved as she waved and walked on to her own home.

The three of them watched Jamie's mother grab her coat, and head into town. "Oh, where is Soph-AHie! Oof!" Jamie suddenly fell as Sophie had come outside. Their mother turned around at the sudden shout, but softened as she saw her daughter, now sitting, on top of her older brother. She apparently tried to jump up and hug him, but it obviously didn't go well. "N-never mind." sighed Jamie. However, he smiled up at his younger sister. Sophie giggled and put on his hat that she'd found in his pocket. But she accidentally pushed it down so that it covered his eyes. "Sophie!" laughed Jamie. Their mother laughed and carried on her way.

While watching Sophie continuously try to stop Jamie from getting up, Hiccup and Jack couldn't help but be amused. Then Jack's smile became bigger. "And she's asleep." he laughed. Jamie sighed, half of relief, and half of tiredness. Hiccup carefully lifted Sophie off of him as he stood up. "Well." said Jamie as he took Sophie back. "This should make watching her easy."

The three walked inside with Jamie carrying Sophie. He laid her down gently on her bed on the second floor then walked back down the stairs. Then he went into the kitchen.

"Oh, you guys are probably hungry. Like me!" Jamie searched through a cupboard. He found a container and pulled it out. "I think my mom made-" Once he'd opened it- it didn't look..."Um, you guys probably ate along the way right?" he said. He put the strange food back in the cupboard. He walked back to the others.

A little while later, Hiccup found himself following Jamie's mother to the home he'd be staying in. He was a little nervous as to who it might be. He wasn't exactly a great social expert. Then he noticed that they were arriving at the town's library. The library? Why there? Ms Bennet knocked on the door. There was a moment of silence and it seemed that no one was coming. But it opened. In the doorway, was an old man. "Hello there Ms Bennet. What brings you to my library at this hour?" he asked in his old voice. Then the two began to talk quietly. Hiccup stood there awkwardly not really knowing what to do. But, soon enough, the two were done talking.

Ms Bennet then turned to him. "So Hiccup, this is Mr. Olivardo. He's the librarian here. This building is also his home. After a few words he gladly invited you into his home for the time being. I hope that's alright." she said kindly. Hiccup smiled. "Oh, yes thank you." he said. Soon, Ms Bennet said her goodbyes, and headed back to her children.

"Well are you going to stand there all night young lad? You'd catch a cold." Mr. Olivardo chuckled. Hiccup awkwardly did the same. "Trust me, I'm use to it." he said. Then he followed the man into the building.

He couldn't believe the size of the place. It was huge! From the outside it looked so..small. It had to be the biggest library that he'd ever seen! Okay...it was the _only_ library he'd ever seen. Berk didn't really have one after all. Vikings weren't very big on reading as Gobber would usually say. Hiccup however, loved it. Obviously, that was definitely a reason why he was an outcast. Sure, Fishlegs read too, but for different reasons. Plus...he wasn't a stick man.

There must have been thousands of books here. A few on every subject! "I have traveled to many places." said Mr. Olivardo. "The world is many things. Life may seem unfair, but it is only unfair if you let it be. Over the coarse of my journeys, I've met many others. Most have grown, but have not changed. Yet, some have done both. You see young man, change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." he finished. He then turned to Hiccup. The boy looked at him curiously. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Hiccup stared into space. Say what now?

What was he telling him? Was he someone that knew everything? Or seemed to know everything? If anything, Hiccup was just confused.

"That of course is how I managed to get around so easily. Ah, here we are. This will be your room for now. I hope it's to your liking." said Mr. Olivardo. He opened a door that Hiccup hadn't noticed before. He gazed into the room. Even though this was a small town, this room was amazing in his eyes. It was definitely better than the rooms on Berk. The bed looked so soft! Suddenly he felt so exhausted. He supposed he should be after the day he's had.

"I hope you rest well Hiccup." Mr. Olivardo said softly. He closed the door as Hiccup stepped in. "I'm sure I will, thank you." he remembered to say. He laid down on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly. Tomorrow would certainly be an interesting day.

**A/N**: Ooh, it's moving along! This story may or may not be longer than I anticipated lol. But whatever! It's fun! Oh, who did Mr. Olivardo quote in that last bit there? No, I do not own them. They're uh, they're called "quotes" for a reason... Also, who can guess what that Inn clerk was saying?

Still working on chapter six so it might not be up for a while sorry about that!

R & R Please! :)


	6. Double, Double Toil and Trouble

**A/N**: woot-woot! Got this done! Hope you like it! It's really moving along now! :)

Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons: Chapter Six: Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Merida woke up the next morning, feeling very... neutral. She wasn't exactly happy that she was free- ish, but she wasn't exactly sad or angry either. It was strange. She'd never really felt that way before. Then she remembered where she was. Corona. Don Broch's neighbouring country. "Corona." she whispered. She sat up slowly. It was a new day. A new day in a new place. Then she remembered something.

She glanced to her right down at Flynn, who was still asleep. She huffed. She could do without him. So he knew his way around the city. She always loved to explore. Merida did _not_ need a guide. "Hmph. Thief." she said quietly. She stood up and took a quick look in the long stand up mirror. Good. She still looked alright. She left the key on the bed for Flynn to hand back to the guy at the desk.

She quietly snuck down the stairs. It seemed quiet. Maybe the guy at the desk wasn't a morning person so the check out time was later. She quietly snuck down the stairs to find no one there. So, she headed straight out the door unseen.

The sun was just beginning to rise, so the sky was a calm orange and pink. It was beautiful! Merida smiled at the sunrise, and carried on. First, she needed breakfast. The restaurant in the Inn didn't look all that nice to her. Merida walked along the stone streets of the town. There was almost no one in sight yet. Once in a while, someone would walk past saying good morning, or a dog would bark in the distance.

"Mornin' deary!" said a new voice. Merida turned to her right to see a small old woman in the window of a bakery. "Nice day for a stroll eh?" said the woman. Merida looked at her. She looked very old, was small, with wrinkly old hands. She wore a green cloak and her grey hair was pulled back. The woman had a large nose, and a smile with a few missing teeth. "Uh, mornin' miss." said Merida.

"I see that you could use a nice breakfast yes?" said the woman.

"Um, yes, actually, I was thinkin' about it." said Merida. She had no idea who this woman was, but she was indeed hungry. She hadn't eaten since lunch the day before. "Now, what would you like deary? I have, biscuits, toast, pie, baked cod and egg-" the woman went on as Merida walked closer to see the menu. However, she would have kept paying attention, when something in the background caught her eye.

There was a broomstick. But it wasn't just the fact that it was a broomstick that had caught her attention. It was the fact that it was moving. On it's own! Sweeping! Regular people like her, or, mortals, wouldn't have those kinds of things now, would they? So, that left one question. Was this woman a witch?

Merida turned her attention back to her. "Scones, shortbread, AND shepherd's pie. So which will it be?" the woman said, while she looked at her expectantly. Merida looked at the menu, considering that she only heard the first few and last few items that the woman had said. "Um, I will have the oatmeal cake pease." she said. The woman closed up the menu. "Ah! One of my favourites! Oh, and everything is half off!" she said cheerfully. "Oh where are my manners, come in deary, it's quite chilly to be eating outside today." She opened up the door. Merida walked up the three steps and inside.

The place looked like a casual cafe. There was the counter, some round tables with plaid table cloths, there was...just one difference. In the back, there was a caldron. Not that it looked strange, it just only heightened Merida's theory of her being a witch. "Um, who are you?" she asked. The woman got behind the counter and began to take hold of the broomstick to sweep. "Oh just a humble baker." she answered.

Merida was about to sit down at one of the tables, when she noticed a few pictures of cats. Wait. Did they...move? "Uh, I don't understand-" Merida gasped as the woman was suddenly beside her looking at the pictures as well. "You like them?" she asked. Merida looked back at them. They didn't move. Maybe it was her imagination. Yeah that's it. Maybe she didn't sleep as well as she thought.

"That one there was my great granny's cat." said the woman, pointing to a picture of an orange tabby cat lounging on a sofa. "But of course I forget the name because it looks cute there, but it was just crazy!" she laughed. Merida awkwardly laughed along. Who was this woman? Suddenly the woman left her broomstick and scurried over to a cabinet. "Oh come look deary. Come look." Merida followed her. What was that scrapping noise? The woman pulled out an old picture of a Persian cat. "This was mine when I was a little girl. Rose Marie. Cuddly little one."

She put the picture back just as Merida thought she heard it...meow? What? Did she really hear it? Perhaps it was just a stray cat from outside; and what _was_ that scraping noise she kept hearing! She finally turned to where she thought she heard it.

"Your broom!" shouted Merida as she pointed. The broom had been sweeping by itself! She knew it! The woman snapped her fingers, and it went dead. "It-it was sweeping- by itself!"

"That's ridiculous! Wood cannae be imbued with magical properties. I should know, I'm a wi...whittler! Of...wood." said the woman. Merida pushed on. Then the woman went over in the back and brought out a carving. "Oh, oh! How about this conversation starter? It's made of yew wood. Half a stone." she said. Merida backed up a bit, a little freaked out, but accidentally hit a table and knocked over a flower vase. She quickly stood it back up. Then she just happened to notice a...crow? Was it real? It was on top of a wall hanging. Merida began to reach out to it in wonder. "Oh, ah ah, that's daft." said the woman.

Suddenly, the crow snapped at her! "Staring is rude!" it said. Wait. It WHAT? Merida gasped and stumbled back. "The crow... crow's talking!" shouted Merida. The woman glanced back from her and the crow. "That's not all I can do. La-la-la-la-" sang the crow.

The woman snapped her fingers again, and the broom hit the crow on the head. It fell to the floor and the broom began to sweep it out of the way. Then the crow hopped back to life and snapped at it making it stop.

"You're a witch!" shouted Merida. She turned back to the woman who was at the caldron. "Baker!" she said.

"That's why the wisps led me here! To this town I mean! To find _you_!"

The woman began baking at a fast pace.

"Baker!" she said.

"You'll change my fate!"

"Baker!"

"You see, it's my mother..."

"I'm not a witch! Too many unsatisfied customers. If you're not going to buy anything, get out!"

"No, the wisps led me here!"

"I don't care! Get out! Shoo! Get! Begone with you!"

"I'll buy it all!" shouted Merida. She had had enough of this denial.

"What, what was that?" asked the woman. She slowly turned around and looked at her. "Every item on that menu." finished Merida.

"Oh, oh, and how are you going to pay for that, sweetie?" said the woman. Merida began to unhook the necklace she forgot she had. "With this." she said. She held it up. The woman gazed at it. "Oh my, that's lovely, that is." she said. Her crow landed on her head. "That will set us up for months!" it said. The woman grabbed for it. But when she looked, it wasn't in her hand. She looked at Merida who smiled slyly.

"Ah-ah-ah. Every item... and one spell." said Merida. The crow began to squawk, and the woman clamped a hand over it's beak. She eyed Merida closely. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she said.

"I want a spell to change my mum. That'll change my fate."

"Done!" said the woman. She grabbed the necklace and began to walk out of the building. Merida followed her. "Where are you goin'?" she asked.

The woman snapped her fingers again. The door closed behind them. "There." she said. She shooed Merida out of the way. "What are you doin'?" asked Merida.

"You never conjure where you cook, very important." she simply said. They entered the same building, although it had completely changed on the inside. It was darker, with a few candles. It was kind of creepy. "Last time I did this was for a prince." said the woman.

"Easy on the eyes." said the crow. The caldron suddenly came to life with a greenish glow. "He demanded I give him the strength of ten men. And he gave me this for a spell. A spell that would change his fate."

"And did he get what he was after?" asked Merida. However, she was suddenly unsure if she wanted to hear the answer. "Ohoho, yes. I made off with an especially attractive mahogany cheeseboard. Now, what do I need? That'll do." said the woman. The caldron had changed colours many times as the woman tossed in different items. Soon she placed a weird looking helmet on her head, and one on the crow. She sprinkled something in the caldron. Merida gazed at it, until the woman noticed and covered her eyes. Then there was a bright blinding light!

After came a little brief explosion. The room went back to its normal self. Well, as normal as it could look for a witch's lair. Merida looked in the pot and scrunched up her nose. It looked awful! It was a brownish red colour, thick, and bubbly. The woman grabbed a ladle and scooped up a spoonful. "And, now, let's see. What have we here?" she said. The liquid dribbled away into the caldron to reveal a small round cake. Merida gave it a questioning look. The woman placed it on a near by table. She smacked away her crow that was looking at it hungrily. "Eeh...A cake?" she said.

"You don't want it?"

"Yes, I want it!" Merida said quickly. "You're sure, if I give _this_, to my mum. It will change my fate?"

"Oh ho ho, trust me!" she said. "It'll do the trick deary." She showed Merida the door then. "Expect delivery of your purchase within a fortnight." she called. Then a thought hit her. "Oh! Oh, ah, what was that thing about the spell..." she thought out loud. Merida turned to her as she was walking.

"Did you say something- ab-" the woman had vanished. The shop had gone as well. That was strange. Now there was just an ally way. "About...the...spell..." she finished. She looked around to still find no one around. It was all so weird. It was as though that cafe had never existed! It just vanished! Poof! Merida stared for a moment at the spot where it was.

Meanwhile, a certain, now ticked off thief, was walking out of the Bennet Family Inn. "Ugh! When I find her she- she- she's gonna get something! That's for sure!" shouted Flynn, crossing his arms. He glanced over at the sound of a few girls giggling. "Oh my!" one of them giggled. He looked at them oddly. Max and Angus walked up to him as they left, still giggling. "Did...did I sound too... excited or something?" Flynn asked them. The two horses looked at each other, then back at Flynn, and did nothing. But they looked smug to Flynn though. He sighed. "Ugh. That woman. I had to give away my last jewel to that innkeeper! Man, how could she just ditch me like that to have me pay for the room. Who does she think she is anyway? Some far off princess looking for a normal life? Ha! As if! Now. Where do you guys think she went? She's not getting off that easy." he asked the horses.

Max, having a keen sense of smell, much like a dog, sniffed Angus. Angus, upon not knowing what the heck he was doing, backed away creeped out. "Oh don't be like that. He's like a giant blood hound." said Flynn as he patted Angus' snout. Then Max bent down and sniffed the ground in search of Merida. Angus looked at Flynn. "Okay it's unnerving, yes," he flinched as Max glared up at him for a moment, "but handy when you don't have one!" he finished. Angus shrugged.

"Come on, or we'll lose him!" said Flynn. He hopped on Angus. Angus snorted and glared up at him. "Don't give me that, hiyah you!" said Flynn, while pointing ahead. Angus snorted again, but began trotting.

They reached Merida in no time. "Ah, there she is. Sup girly, miss me?" Flynn said smirking. Then when she didn't respond, he noticed that she was staring at an ally way. "What _are_ you looking at?" he asked hopping off of Angus. He walked over to her and looked into the ally. Nothing. This girl was weird. "You're weird. There's nothing there. _Helloooo._" he sang while waving a hand in front of her face. Merida blinked.

"Huh, what?" she said. Had she been staring for that long? Who was- oh. That guy. "Soooooo...did you buy all that for me because you felt bad for making me pay for the room all by myself when I had next to nothing?" Merida scowled.

"Hardly. This is for my mum," said Merida gesturing to the cake she was holding, "and, and this- this is for me and Angus. For our journey." she finished. She hadn't noticed a large bag full of food from the bakery sitting there. She had forgotten that she had bought everything on the menu int trade for the spell. "Now. I need to find some delivery system or something to get this to my mum. Would you know where that is?" she asked.

"No." said Flynn. Merida looked at him. "What? I'm serious. Being alone most of the time I don't have a need to do that kind of thing." he answered. Merida looked down for a second. 'Alone most of the time.' Those words made her feel a little bit guilty about the way she's been acting. But, he did need a little change of attitude towards her though. "Well then, I suppose we have a journey ahead of us." she said, smiling. Flynn, confused as to why she was smiling, shrugged. "Alright, I guess we could ask around or something. But uh, you might want to do that. I'm sort of...well known. Around here. Ah, you know." he said.

Merida laughed. "I can see that." she gestured towards a sign on a post. They walked up to it. Flynn huffed and tore down the wanted poster. "They can never get my nose right! This stinks! Oh, uh, no pun intended." he said. Merida laughed.

Soon enough, they were able to find the place. Merida felt happy for the first time in a while, and was able to send her mother the gift. She knew that she would recognise her hand writing so it would be safe once it got there.

"So, does this mean that you're leaving?" asked Flynn, for some reason, somewhat hopeful. Merida looked at him in surprise as they walked through town. "Are you kiddin'? I'm free for a while and now that I'm here, I want to see the city! I've never been here before in my life!" she said. "It's all so...new!"

Flynn sighed inwardly. Well, in actuality, he didn't really have a whole lot to do. Unless you counted running from guards, and those two brothers that were probably still looking for him. "Well..." he started. He wasn't use to having someone along with him. _This_ was all so...new to him. "I... suppose I could- show you around..." he said slowly. Merida lit up like a candle. "Oh did you hear that Angus! This is so excitin'!" she said happily. Flynn sighed on the inside again, but half smiled. _"Oh boy. What did I get myself into?"_ he thought.

The next morning, Hiccup awoke early. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Man. Just another day to get ignored..." he sighed sleepily. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Wait. This wasn't his room. Oh yeah...he'd run- well, _flew_ away from home. Home...

He wondered if anyone was noticing him being gone. Gobber maybe. After his mother, Gobber was really the only one who`d ever payed attention to him. Well, sort of. He`d do his best. He wasn`t exactly like his mother though...

Hiccup stifled a yawn, and got out of bed. He peeked out the door. It didn`t seem as though Mr. Olivardo was awake yet. The sun was just starting to rise. People on Berk usually didn`t get up for at least another hour or two. Now was Hiccup`s chance to see if Toothless was okay. But, then again... Toothless might not actually be up yet either. Oh well. He was gonna go anyway.

He quietly went outside and closed the door behind him. Instantly he wished he'd brought some kind of jacket. It had gotten more brisk then the previous day. However, it _still_ wasn't as cold as Berk's winters can get. Berk.

Hiccup looked down as he walked. Again he wondered if anyone even noticed his disappearance. Perhaps they just thought he had gotten eaten by a dragon. Or just plain lost in Berk's thick forests. Gobber probably would have gone looking for him. He seemed to be the only one who truly cared about him. Yes, it was true that the hook-handed man was more of a father to him than his own birth father was. Stoik had also been known to not show his true feelings (unless he was angry) towards him or anyone. He sighed. Boy was his life ever _great_. But, before accidentally becoming depressed, Hiccup carried on with his task of checking up on Toothless. Only, once he got to said dragon's burn circle, he wasn't there.

"Toothless?" called Hiccup. No answer. "Oh great I lost him. A _dragon_. I lost a dragon! Again! Ugh. Toothless! You here bud!" he tried again. Nothing. Where the heck was that dragon? Hiccup walked further into the woods. Maybe he'd found a branch to hang from. Maybe he was blending into the background. It was still pretty dark in the forest. Then again, it could just be the fact that the trees were so high and bushy. Hiccup glanced back to remember to recall which path he took. There were actually quite a lot.

"Toothless! Man where is he?" he said. He knew he couldn't fly on his own, so he couldn't have gotten far. Right?

Then there it was. A little, blue and white light. No. It wasn't just a light. It looked like a creature of some kind. It had also rendered Hiccup silent. He stared at it. He watched as the thing moved small arms and made a child like sound. It was beckoning him forward. "Hey little guy, who are you?" he whispered. He didn't want to frighten it away. This was all so new to him. He slowly stepped closer. It was so...strange. It was like a tiny glowing blue and white child. If he didn't feel so calm and reassured that it wasn't going to hurt him- he'd be kind of freaked out.

As he got closer, he gently reached out his left hand. Just as he was about to touch it, it disappeared! Just like that. Poof! "What?" whispered Hiccup. Then he heard it again. That child-like call. He looked ahead, and saw a small row of them leading on. "There are more of you..." he said. "You're...leading me somewhere?" he said out loud as he walked on. Maybe they were leading him to Toothless. Perhaps the stubborn dragon had gotten himself lost in these strange and unfamiliar woods. Who knows it could have happened. If Hiccup hadn't been smart enough to remember which path he took, well, he'd probably get lost too.

"Hm. I wonder where you're taking..." Hiccup trailed off.

He brushed some branches away and noticed that he'd come to a clearing. It was strange though. It felt...spiritual for some reason. "Tooth-" he didn't finish. It felt uneasy talking here. That could have been the fact that it was dark in this clearing when it was past sunrise now. He looked up as he walked under an old stone arch. Where were these things taking him? Why did they bring him here? It was all too creepy.

Then he looked around. Wait, he was by a large river? When did that happen? He looked back. "So. This is where that forest leads out to. Creepy." he said, voicing his thoughts. He also noticed that the blue things had disappeared. Not to mention his calmness and reassurance. Not good. Where was he? He felt as though he shouldn't be there.

"U-um. Toothless? Now would be a _really_ great time for you to quit playing hide-and-seek. Toothless?" said Hiccup. He looked ahead and saw what looked like an old broken down stone circle. Maybe it use to be a tower? No one had been there for quite some time though. It almost looked...ancient. Ancient, spiritual, "Um, where are you buuaaaaaaaaahd!" he shouted. He'd fallen through an old piece of the ground. "Oh man. Why am I always-" he didn't finish. Again. He looked around.

He was in a- a... a throne room. So. This had been a tower at some point in time. Hiccup slowly turned in a circle, and took it all in. He stopped when he noticed three coffins. Coffins with the images of- princes on them? "One...two...three...four. Four. It- it's split. But...but why?" Hiccup's voice was shaking a bit now. Why the heck would a coffin for a prince of an ancient kingdom- be split open.

Suddenly, he saw a young woman, yet much older than him, appear. She wore a long royal dress, had dark hair pulled back, and looked extremely worried. She was receiving some sort of package. She opened it. It was some sort of, cake? After reading the letter, her spirits seemed to have lifted a little. She looked at the cake in her hand, and bit it. Then- then she looked sick. Sick to the stomach. She fell to the ground. She began to...not throw up like Hiccup expected but...change. Physically. Her mouth and nose became longer, and her skin changed to dark brown fur? Her nails became sharp long claws. What was happening? What was she changing into? A pair of bright yellow eyes snapped open as her mouth bared sharp gnarly teeth.

Just as soon as he thought it was over, there was more. A strange looking man, with spiky hair, who wore a dark cloak of some kind, who was as black as the night appeared. He chilled Hiccup to the bones. He looked menacing. Evil. Suddenly there was evil laughter coming from him. He was standing in a young girl's bedroom. The girl had glowing dream sand. That must have been the sand from the Sandman Jack told him about. Hiccup didn't trust this dark man. He leaned in closer to the dream. _"Oh I thought I heard the clipity clop of a unicorn. What an adorable dream. And look at her! Precious child. So sweet. So full of hope, and wonder. Why, there's only one thing missing." _Wait, that girl- Hiccup had met her before. It was Cupcake! The man reached out a finger and touched the sand. It became dark. Like him. _"A touch of fear." he laughed evilly. "That never gets old. Fear. Fear. Come on. Come on, that's right." _As the sand turned black, the dream turned into a deadly looking horse. _"Yes. What a pretty , little, nightmare! Now. I want you to go tell the others. The wait- is over."_ the man walked outside as the dark horse flew out into the night. He looked up to the full moon. _"Don't look at me like that old friend. You must have known this day would come. My Nightmares are finally ready."_ he paused. _"Are your guardians?"_

Hiccup gasped and stumbled backwards as the vision faded. Who was that woman? That...that man... He looked so evil. Hungry for revenge. Guardians. Were those the people Jack told him about? The ones that protected the children of the world? They had to be. Who else would it be? Why did he have that vision? He breathed heavily as he realised who he was staring at. His best friend nudged him in concern. Hiccup began petting him absentmindedly. He took a deep breath to calm down. "I-I'm fine bud. Just don't wonder off like that. Okay? You know what? I...I think I just had a vision." he said, amazed. Toothless looked at him curiously. This adventure was going to be interesting. He'd certainly have a story to tell once- scratch that, _if_ he ever got back to Berk.

"This is not good! Not good at all!" shouted North. He paced around the Tooth Palace in fury. Just hours ago, Tooth's palace had been attacked. By Pitch Black, A.K.A the Bogeyman's Nightmares. Her little fearie helpers were taken, and so was every last tooth they ever collected. Then Pitch himself had appeared.

His words still whispered in Jack's mind. _"Didn't they tell you Jack? It's great being a guardian! But there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect, wonder, hopes and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little, so do they. No Christmas, or Easter, or little fearie's that come in the night. There will be nothing- but fear, and darkness... and me. It's your turn. Not to be believed in."_

Jack fumbled with his staff and paced just as much as North. He didn't like this. Not one bit. As much as he didn't want to be a guardian, he couldn't stand by and let this happen. Right? But- Pitch just wanted to be believed in. Like him. Like all of them. To be accepted. But...why did it have to be fear! He sighed out of frustration. Tooth noticed, and walked up to him. The power of the children's belief was what made her fly. She still had a little power, but not as much as she use to. "Jack?" she said calmly.

Jack only glanced at her. "This...this is just so messed up! Everything!" he sighed. To Tooth, he sounded...defeated. He _looked_ defeated. He looked down at the ground. He kneeled down and picked up a small container that held the teeth of a child. "I...I'm sorry about the fearie's." he said quietly. Tooth knelt down next to him and held another container. They were both empty. "You should have seen them. They put up such a fight." The little Baby Tooth Jack saved from a Nightmare fluttered around him. "Why would Pitch take the teeth?" he asked.

"It's not the teeth he wanted. It's the memories inside them." explained Tooth. Jack looked at her curiously. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"That's why we collect the teeth Jack. They hold the most important memories of childhood." Tooth flew up to a wall painting. "My fearie's and I watch over them." The painting was a drawing of Tooth and a group of children. One of them held their hand out to her. There were two other circles on either side of it. One was of the globe, and the other was a circle of images, with one in the middle. "And when someone needs to remember what's important, we help them. We had everyone's here." Tooth placed a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Yours too." Jack looked up at her. "Um, my memories?" he asked.

He didn't know if he even had a past. He wondered for years not knowing a thing about himself. "From you were young. Before you became Jack Frost." said Tooth. Jack backed up a little. "But...I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost..." he stammered. Tooth flew closer. "Of course you were. We were all someone before we were chosen." Jack stared at her.

"What?" he said quietly. He- he _did_ have a past life? Who was he? Was his name even Jack Frost back then? "Wh...I- I never really thought I-I just, I- I assumed. I...Are you saying, I had a life? Before- wait, a- with a home and, and a family!" Jack shouted. He didn't realise he was shouting at the moment. This was all so new for him! Tooth looked at him. "You...you really don't remember?" she asked quietly. Jack stared, wide eyed. He began to stumble back a bit. "All these years and the answers were right here!" then a thought hit him. "If I find my memories, then I'll know why I'm here! You have to show me!" he began to fly.

"I can't Jack. Pitch has them." said Tooth. Jack instantly stopped flying. "Then we have to get them back!" he said.

Tooth was about to say something, but she was interrupted. More of the palace began to disappear. "Oh no! The children! We're too late!" said Tooth.

"No! No! No such thing as too late!" shouted North. He paced some more in thought. "Wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait! I got it!" he swung one of his swords around, and pointed it. He just barely missed Bunny who leaned back out of the way. Jack chuckled at Bunny's temporary fear. "We- will collect the teeth!" North said, pointing his swords at everyone. Wait. What?

"WHAT?" said Tooth.

"We get the teeth, children keep believing in you!"

"We're talking seven continents, millions of kids-"

"Give me break. You know how many toys I deliver in one night?"

"And eggs I hide in one day?" chimed Bunny.

"And Jack. If you help us, we will give you your memories." said North. Jack looked at him. This was a huge moment. He looked at all of them as Tooth giggled, Sandy gave two thumbs up, and Bunny sighed in disbelief. While North smiled proudly. Jack gripped his staff. "I'm in." he said. He'd never been so excited! "But there's just one stop that we have to make first."

Bunny sighed. "You-you see? He's slowing us down-"

"I'm getting us more help. I know a guy." said Jack. The others looked at him curiously. Jack smiled. "What- don't tell me it's the Groundhog!" shouted Bunny. Jack laughed while Bunny glared back, clearly annoyed. What could he say? Annoying the guy was one of Jack's favourite past times. Okay it was number two. The first? Snow day. Obviously.

"I'll give you a hint." started Jack, be flew off. "His best friend is a dragon!"

The others looked at each other shocked. "Does...does he mean-" started Tooth. North laughed. "I think he does! Ha- ha!" he said happily. Bunny gave a noise of disbelief. "That guy? Seriously- because of him-"

"The teeth would not be collected!" said North. "Give him chance Bunny." Bunny looked at him in thought.

Hiccup slowly got up from his spot on the ground. "Let's- let's get out of here bud." he said. He was about to hop on, when he heard a growl. "Please tell me that was you." he said to Toothless. Toothless growled to the left of Hiccup. Great. This was just what he needed at the moment. Hiccup turned to see what it was. He gasped. What was standing before him, on it's hind legs, was the biggest, and only, bear Hiccup had ever seen. The bear looked deadly, and dangerous. Hiccup froze. He knew he should have, but he couldn't move! It's as though time had stopped for him! He was beginning to panic because of that. Not smart. He couldn't think straight. Toothless stepped in front of him to protect him.

Jack flew as fast as he could. "Um, Jack, I thought that Hiccup lives in Berk. What's he doing in Burgess?" asked Tooth, who was flying beside him on his left. North, Sandy, and a cowering Bunny were in the sled on his right. "He...has his reasons. I'm probably not the best person to talk about it." he said. He looked down to see he could spot Hiccup. He'd certainly be up by now. So he might as well start looking for him. "Jack, I know about his past. How hard it was for him." Tooth said. Jack glanced at her and frowned. Of course she knew. She'd probably been to Berk millions of times. "Yeah...I know. It's just..." started Jack. Tooth smiled reassuringly at him. "I understand." she said. Jack glanced at her and smiled, then went back to look for Hiccup.

Suddenly there was a ruckus below them. "What?" said Jack. He flew down as the other followed. "Jack, look out! It's Mord'u! Be careful!" shouted Tooth.

"Who?" asked Jack. Sure, he's been around for a hundred years, but this place looked ancient compared to him. How was he suppose to know what's up? Jack flew down and landed near the hole that Hiccup fell through. Inside he couldn't believe his eyes. "Oh..." was all he could say. "Okay, not good. Ideas, I need ideas!" he whispered to himself as the sled landed gracefully. The other three got out and joined him. "Mord'u. I should have known we were in his part of town." North said quietly. Tooth flew and stood next to him. "Wh-what do we do? Hiccup's in trouble!" she gasped as she saw what Jack had in his hand. "Wait, Jack don't! We need to think-" Too late.

Hiccup backed up until he was against the wall. He's never been so scared in his life. Dragons were one thing, but this guy? This guy looked not trainable! What could he possibly do to-

Suddenly something came out of nowhere and landed smack against the bear's head. It splattered never to be seen again. "Wh- what?" Hiccup said quietly. The event even got Toothless confused. He even lost his defense stance and expression. The bear growled in anger. It lifted it's head up to where the thing came from. Then another hit it in the head again! What was happening. This time some of it landed near Hiccup. He picked some up with two fingers. "Snow? Wait...frost." with this realization, he looked up. Yep. There he was.

Jack Frost sat on the edge of the hole that Hiccup fell through. "It's about time you realized it." he said jokingly. This time, upon hearing him, Toothless glanced back and gave a quick smile. However, Mord'u was not pleased to see him at all. He growled like crazy and leaped up at him. Hiccup got out of the way just in time, as well as Toothless. The bear just barely missed Jack who had jumped up and began to fly. "Gees, you're cranky this morning." commented Jack. "What did you do? Wake up on the wrong side of the throne?"

Mord'u could either understand him, or he just didn't like him. He thrashed a clawed paw at him again, this time only hitting the wall and knocking down stuff along the way. "I'll distract him, you- fly!" said Jack. He was about to say run, but that just wouldn't fit with this scenario. Hiccup nodded, and Jack flew off. He kept irking Mord'u with comments, and flew out of the way each time he tried to strike. Hiccup crawled around to Toothless, just narrowly missing the stuff that was falling down.

Once he got on, he took one glance at the scene. Jack was so close to the bear, but was behind him. He got a snowball ready. But Mord'u was faster! He swung around so fast Jack almost didn't know what happened! Mord'u swung his claws at him and smacked him down as hard as he could! Hiccup gasped, and he heard others gasp. He guessed it was the other guardians. Jack had the wind knocked out of him. He seemed knocked out at first, but then he began to move. He had some trouble getting up. Mord'u was ready for more action."Jack!" he whispered. "Okay bud, you ready?" Toothless cooed in response.

Just as Mord'u was ready to swipe, Jack became wide awake. But he was hurt. He glanced at his left shoulder. It was bleeding a little, but it hurt like hell. He looked up at the bear who was ready to kill.

Suddenly, Jack was lifted off the ground! He gave a shout of surprise, and slight pain from his shoulder. He swung his legs up to get out of the way of Mord'u's claws. The bear roared with frustration. The three flew up into the sky, then glided back down to the other four. Toothless set Jack down gently. "Jack!" said Tooth. She flew up to him. "Are you-" she gasped. "You're not! You're hurt!" she flew around and got a closer look at his shoulder.

"Uh, it's nothing really." Jack said. Tooth gave him a look. "That is one deep cut Jack. You need someone to look at it." she said. Sandy came and stood next to her and looked at it. He gave a look of worry and nodded. A few images appeared above his head. Jack shook his head not understanding. "Sandy's right. It could get worse. You also hit your head pretty hard too." said Tooth. Sandy nodded. But noticed that Jack was looking towards his right. Then he remembered. "Yeah... I must have... cause I'm seeing things." said Jack. North laughed. Jack was looking at a bunch of sand weapons that were ready to go. "No, no! That was Sandy's back up plan. We were just about to use it when Hiccup got you out of bear's way!" said North.

Jack looked at Sandy who nodded. Then he waved his hands and the weapons turned into swirls of sand that waved around him. Jack chuckled. Sandy was the best, wasn't he? Always up and ready for anything. "Alright Jack, you and I will go to North Pole, while the others help Tooth." said North. Jack looked at him. "Wh-what? But- but what about-"

North gently led him to the sled. "But-" Jack began to protest, but North interrupted him.

"Jack, sometimes there are far more important things. I know you want to help, but injury could get worse." he said gently. Jack sighed and got into the sled. He knew he was right, but he wanted to know if he'd still get his memories as well. Not to mention that he wanted to see the look on Hiccup's face when the guardians ask him if he wanted to help collect teeth. Things just never really turn out the way he wants. He glanced back at the others as the sleigh road off into the crystal ball's tunnel.

Sandy waved goodbye as Hiccup and Toothless just stared. "You don't see that everyday." said Hiccup. Tooth suddenly flew up to him. "Oh, that's right. Jack had this idea that maybe you could help us." she said. Hiccup looked at her. "Help...how? With what?"

"Help us collect the children's teeth." said Bunny. Hiccup stared at him. "Collect what now?" he said.

**A/N**: lol. So here's where Pitch comes in! Uh...sort of. Not in person... but...well...yeah. Sorry about that Pitch fans. Okay. Don't forget to R & R! :)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE, MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! :D


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